


The road trip

by tinytrash575



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: College, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Relationship(s), Road Trips, post 6a
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-11-29 19:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11447415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinytrash575/pseuds/tinytrash575
Summary: Lydia drives Stiles to DC to help him move into his dorm. Post 6A-Pre 6B.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in the works pretty much since 6x10 aired, but only just started writing it now. I'm going to try and get this whole thing complete by the time 6B starts airing so lets see how that goes.

Stiles stood in the doorway of his bedroom, staring at the pile of bags and boxes that were sat in the middle of the floor like a lone drum kit on an empty stage. It was weird to think that the contents of those bags and boxes would soon be all that he had, splashed around a dorm room about a quarter of this room’s size. Even being in the room felt different. It hadn’t last night when he and Lydia were packing everything, but now it did. The walls somehow felt barer and it didn’t look the same, despite not much changing. Maybe it was the knowledge of the empty drawers in the dresser and his laptop not sitting on his desk. The strangest realisation of all, though, was that after today, he wouldn’t be seeing this room again until Christmas. It wasn’t as if he was going to be close enough that he could come home at weekends. He was going to be on the other side of the country. This room held so many memories, and now he was leaving it behind. The soft sound of footsteps in the hall pulled him out of his thoughts, and Lydia gently touched his back as she moved to stand beside him, pressing her body against his.

“Is that all of it?” she asked, glancing up at Stiles.

“Yup,” he replied, looking down to meet her eyes briefly before looking back into his room. “Every box, bag and suitcase.”

“I bet it feels weird seeing your room like this,” Lydia continued, titling her head as she too surveyed the room’s interior. “Half your stuff packed up.” It was like she’d read his mind, or somehow managed to sense how he was feeling.

“A little,” he told her, his voice quiet. She looked at him, shooting him a warm smile.

“It was even weirder when it was just a dark, empty room,” she said, and he could tell from the solemn look that shot across face that she was picturing the room how it had been while he’d been taken, nothing but a hollow empty shell.

“Yeah, well,” he began, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him. “It’s not that anymore.” She smiled, leaning in closer as he moved in to kiss her.

Her arms wrapped around his sides as their lips moved slowly together, their warmth driving out any lingering sense of unease. After they pulled away, Stiles took in the brightness of Lydia’s eyes. He noticed how they always seemed wider after he kissed her, how they shone more. Every time he saw it a burst of warmth spread in his chest.

“We should start loading up the car,” said Lydia after a few moments of silence, lightly patting him on the back before slipping out of his grip. Stiles nodded, moving to follow her towards the baggage as they began picking things up to take out to her car.

They decided to take the suitcases full of clothes first, digging them out from the bottom of the pile and dragging one each outside, placing them in the trunk of Lydia’s car. The next things they took out were the boxes. Some managed to fit in the trunk, but they were running out of room as despite being wide, the trunk of Lydia’s car was shallower than they had expected. The remaining boxes went on the back seats. The last things to go in the car were the miscellaneous holdalls and the bags that contained their stuff for the road trip, both overly large gym bags full of clothes and toiletries.

They both leant against the bright blue paint of the car once everything was inside it, relaxing as the sun beat down on them. A short while later, Scott appeared in the front yard, pulling Stiles into a hug before dashing off inside to find the Sherriff. Stiles and Lydia agreed to follow him, walking slowly beside each other as they crossed the front lawn.

“I’m so glad Scott came to see me off,” said Stiles as they walked, still smiling. Of all the things he would miss while he was at college, Scott was at the top of the list. They were going to be thousands of miles away from each other, and he knew that he’d feel a hole in his life where Scott would usually be. He was incredibly happy that he was here now.

“Did you think he wouldn’t?” Lydia replied, an almost sarcastic tone to her voice, like the thought of him missing this was completely unbelievable.

“No,” he answered. “Of course not.” He knew that if anyone was going to be there to see them off, it was Scott. A part of him wished that his other friends could be here too, but having Scott was enough.

“I got a text from Malia,” Stiles added, remembering the message from earlier. “She said sorry I couldn’t be there to see you off since I’m stuck at stupid summer school, but good luck at college and I hope you have a great time.” They stopped walking when they got to the front porch, peeking inside the open front door.

“That’s nice,” said Lydia, a happy smile on her face. It then twisted into an amused smirk. “I got one from her too.”

“Oh yeah?” Stiles replied, intrigued by the look on Lydia’s face as to what the contents of this message could have been. “What’d she say?”

“She put I know you guys are leaving today, so have a good time,” Lydia recited, pausing to bite her lip and suppress a giggle. Stiles could feel anticipation for what she was about to say next creep through his body. “And if he starts doing that thing where he moves in his sleep just pinch his arm a little, usually he stops.”

“Hey!” he exclaimed, feeling heat rush to his cheeks as Lydia laughed. Unlike most people probably would be, Stiles wasn’t unnerved by the closeness between his current and ex girlfriend, however, instances like this did make him wonder what the two of them said to each other about him. “There will be no pinching.”

“Maybe,” Lydia said teasingly, dimples in her cheeks as the remnants of her laughter still lingered. “If you behave yourself.” She bit her bottom lip as a playful smile formed on her face, and her eyes met his with a look that sent a rush of heat through his body. He was just about to move in to kiss her when Scott cleared his throat very loudly from the doorway, causing them both to turn sharply in his direction.

Scott shot them a thin, knowing smile, and the two of them stepped a couple of inches further apart as he moved out of the doorway and joined them on the porch. The silence that began to settle around them felt thick with goodbyes yet to be said, and Stiles noticed Lydia pick up on the tension as she moved herself further away, creating more space for him and Scott to talk.

“So,” said Stiles as he and Scott moved to face each other, shoving his hands in his pockets. A sad ache started to form in his chest as he thought about saying goodbye to Scott right now, even if they were going to talk to each other every day. Something about knowing this would be the last time he would see him in person for months made the moment feel more final than it needed to feel.

“I guess this is it,” Scott added, mirroring his thin smile and quiet tone. There were so many things Stiles wanted to say to Scott, but right now his mind was going blank. Nothing would be enough to show him how much he was going to miss his best friend, how strange everything was going to feel without him there.

“I’m gonna miss you,” was what he managed to say, his voice wavering a little as he did. It didn’t feel like enough, but it captured the essence of everything he wanted to say. Scott gave him a small smile.

“Yeah,” he sighed, nodding his head slightly. “Me too.” Before another second passed, they moved towards each other, pulling each other into a bone crushing hug.

“I’ll call you later,” said Stiles after they were finished patting each other on the back. “Let you know how we’re doing on the road.”

“You better be calling me later too,” said another voice emerging from the doorway. Stiles turned around and found his dad standing there, approaching them in jeans and an old t shirt.

“Yes dad,” he replied, smiling as his dad stopped in front of them. “I will.”

The same tension that had fallen around him and Scott now settled in the air that flowed through the space between Stiles and his father. The same thin smiles and looks tinged with sadness passed between them.

“Well,” his father started, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he looked at him. “My boy is going off to college.”

“Yeah,” Stiles replied, a breathy tone to his voice that carried an air of disbelief. He shared a tentative look with his dad, before his expression changed and his eyes suddenly widened, like he’d just remembered something.

“Which reminds me,” his dad blurted, heading back inside the house. “Stay there a second.”

Stiles exchanged a confused glance with Scott and Lydia before looking down the hall, wondering what his dad had forgotten. A minute later he emerged, carrying in his hands what looked like a plastic container full of food.

“I made you two some lunch for the road,” he explained as he made his way back out onto the porch. “Figured you might as well get one healthy meal on your trip.” He handed the box to Stiles. It wasn’t as heavy as he expected it to be.

“Thanks,” said Lydia from the other side of the porch, the tone of her voice high with appreciation. Stiles lifted up the box to examine the contents, noting some sandwiches with so much lettuce spilling out the sides that he wondered if that were their only filling.

“Dad,” he said suspiciously, holding the box up even higher as he continued to inspect its contents. “How much lettuce did you put in these sandwiches?”

“Not enough,” his father laughed in response, moving closer to him. “Given the junk you guys will probably be eating.” It made sense. They probably were going to be eating a lot of fast food on the road. Stiles felt his father’s hand drop onto his shoulder. “And consider it revenge for all that green crap you’ve made me eat over the years.”

“Which you better still eat when I’m not here,” he responded sternly, causing his father to laugh. A few moments of silence ticked past, and the humorous atmosphere dissipated into the air around them. It became painfully obvious that the next thing to say was goodbye.

“Come here, son,” said his dad, his voice crackling so subtly that you’d only notice it if you knew him well enough to recognise his emotional tells. Stiles walked quickly into his father’s arms, wrapping his own around him. He’d been worried about leaving his dad here alone, asking himself who would keep an eye on him and make sure that he was okay while he was on the other side of the country. It had been just the two of them for so long, and now he was leaving. He needed to know that his dad would look after himself while he was gone. Once more he couldn’t think of all the words he wanted to say to his dad, so instead he hugged him tighter, hoping that he already knew everything he could have possibly said.

“You be careful, okay,” his dad whispered, still holding him close.

“I will dad,” he replied, feeling his throat catch as he thought about when this moment was over and he’d be leaving. They released each other slowly, patting each other lightly on the shoulders and not quite looking at each other. They knew it would only make this harder. Stiles watched his dad press his lips together before pushing them into a smile, turning to where Lydia and Scott stood on the other side of the porch.

“You too, Lydia,” he grinned, motioning for her to come over. “Get in here.” she smiled before walking over to his dad and hugging him.

“Look after him,” his dad said to her, his voice almost quiet enough that he didn’t hear.

“I will,” Lydia responded, nodding as his father let her go and she walked over to stand at his side.

“Both of you,” he continued, much louder this time, pointing his finger at them. “Look after each other.”

“We will,” Stiles told his dad, slipping his hand into Lydia’s. Another blanket of silence fell around them, and his heart raced as he realised the only thing left to do was get in the car and go.

“Well,” he said loudly, giving Lydia a nervous smile before looking around at Scott and his dad standing there. The ache that had settled in his chest at the thought of leaving them intensified. Now it was actually happening. “I guess we better get going.”

Lydia smiled at him, squeezing his hand as they made their way off the porch and towards the driveway where the loaded car sat, his father and Scott not far behind. Once they got to the car, Lydia settled into the drivers seat but Stiles waited, standing in front of the open passenger’s side door.

“Have a safe trip,” his dad said, smiling despite the obvious sadness in his eyes at watching his son leave. “And call me tonight.”

“Yeah, I will,” Stiles told his dad, laughing slightly as he gave him one last glance of goodbye. His father nodded once, and then he climbed into the passenger’s seat, swallowing hard as he scrambled to put his seatbelt on.

The atmosphere in the car was different. There was still the silence and lingering sadness from outside, but now there was an element of excitement floating in the air. This would be their life for the next few days, just the two of them in this car until they reached DC, no interruptions.

“You ready?” Lydia asked once he was buckled up, her ponytail swishing over her shoulder as she turned to look at him. Her eyes were warm as they met his, full of consideration for how he might be feeling right now, silently checking if he was okay. If there was one thing that made the ache of leaving his loved ones behind ease, it was her.

“Yeah,” he sighed, nodding slightly as his chest both sank and filled with excitement at the same time. “Let’s go.” Lydia smiled, and then the car hummed to life, and soon enough they were off the driveway and rolling down the street, leaving his home behind.

Stiles watched Beacon Hills pass them by out of the window as they moved through town, thinking of all the memories he had here. This town had been where the best and the worst moments of his life had occurred. His entire life had been here, and now he was moving on. There was a strange kind of peace at that knowledge, that he was starting a new chapter somewhere else, but also an underlying level of fear for what the future held.

About six minutes into the journey, when they were nearing the outskirts of town, Stiles grabbed his bag from the back seat. He remembered what was in there, figuring that now was as good a time as any to get it out and start using it. He fished around in the bag as it sat on his lap, shoving past balled up t shirts to find it. He knew Lydia was eyeing him curiously, but he would explain everything to her when he found it.

“What is that?” she asked once he’d found the case and pulled it out.

“A video camera,” he explained.

“Who gave you a video camera?” she asked, curiosity lacing her voice.

“Scott,” he answered. It had been a trade of sorts. Since Stiles had given Scott his Jeep, Scott wanted to give him something in return. They’d found Scott’s video camera while rummaging through his things. And while it didn’t have the same weight as the Jeep, it was still a gift.

“Why did you want a video camera?” asked Lydia, taking her eyes off the road for a second to look at it before swiftly bringing them back.

“It’s our first road trip as a couple and I want to remember it,” Stiles explained. That had also kind of been Scott’s idea. They were talking about the upcoming trip and Scott suggested finding a way to remember it, add in the gifting of the camera and it made complete sense. “So when we get to DC I’m going to put the footage on my laptop.”

“Ok,” said Lydia, and he could hear the smile in her voice. He pressed the on button as they approached the edge of town, preparing to shoot the first bit of footage.

“Here we go,” he muttered as soon as the camera was ready to go, turning it around so it was picking up the road in front of them and not his face.

“This is day one of Stiles and Lydia’s road trip to DC,” Stiles began to narrate as he filmed the landscape out of the window, his voice startling Lydia. “Right now we’re passing the ‘You are now leaving Beacon Hills’ sign.” He shot the sign passing them by in a blur before turning it in the other direction. “Say hi to the camera Lydia.”

“Oh god,” she groaned, glancing quickly at the camera. “What have I let myself in for?”


	2. Chapter 2

“So what are the rules?” asked Stiles after they’d been on the road for about half an hour. So far, neither of them had talked much, they mostly sat listening to Lydia’s music as Stiles tested the features of the camera. There was going to be some interesting footage of California’s mountains and hills with the background noise of Beyoncé and awful puns, as Stiles had taken it upon himself to try and see which bad pun could make Lydia roll her eyes the hardest.

“The rules?” Lydia repeated, confused, taking her eyes off the highway for a split second to shoot him a narrow glance.

“You know,” Stiles began, moving his hands as he shifted to face her and not the open road in front of them. “The trip rules. How long do we take before a bathroom stop? Who chooses the music?”

“Well how long do you think we should take before a bathroom stop?” she asked him, tucking one of the strands of hair framing her face behind her ear.

“I don’t know,” he replied, biting his lip. “How well can you hold it?”

“Better than you if Mexico was anything to go by,” she replied, almost scoffing as she remembered that particular trip where he’d made them stop so frequently for the first half of the journey that they had made a group joke about it.

“Hey,” Stiles exclaimed, pointing at her defensively. “That was only because I drank that whole bottle of Pepsi Max. I’ve learned from my mistakes.” Lydia shook her head, laughing slightly.

“Okay,” she replied, the tone of her voice making it clear that she didn’t believe him. He shot her a look before facing forwards again. She glanced in the rear view mirror at the cars behind them. “How about we just say when we need the bathroom and then we’ll find the nearest one.”

“Sounds good,” he replied, glancing down at his lap before looking back at the road. “Now what about music?”

“Well I have my Pandora,” she answered, drawing her eyes temporarily to the screen in the centre of her dashboard. “But you can play your playlists while you’re driving.” She knew that he had a multitude of music playlists saved on his phone, all for oddly specific occasions. A road trip was one of them. Stiles nodded.

“So drivers’ choice,” he stated.

“Yes,” Lydia agreed, pursing her lips. “Unless you put on something awful, then I reserve the right to veto.” Stiles snapped his head in her direction, shooting her a look of disbelief and mild offence.

 “Who said I was going to be the one putting on crappy music?” he argued. She just raised her eyebrows at him.

“Look,” he exclaimed, suddenly shoving his hand in his pocket to find his phone. Lydia rolled her eyes, knowing full well what she’d just started. He wasn’t going to drop this. “I’ll show you my playlists,” he declared, pausing as he unlocked his phone. “Damn it.”

“What?” asked Lydia.

“I forgot to charge my phone before we left,” Stiles explained, holding the phone up in her direction even though there was no way she could take her eyes off the road long enough to concentrate on the small 10% in the top corner of his screen. “The battery is nearly dead.”

“Charge it in here,” Lydia told him, looking at him long enough to see him squint at her. She rolled her eyes for whet felt like the hundredth time, and they’d not even been on the road forty minutes.

“Glove compartment,” she stated, referring to the in car charging lead stored there. Stiles opened the compartment and found it, plugging it in and connecting his phone.

“See,” began Lydia, the slightest hint of smugness to her voice. “My car actually has modern technology.”

“Hey, Roscoe has character,” Stiles exclaimed defensively. Even though Scott was now driving the old Jeep, it still felt like his car, and he would forever be defensive of it, especially since Lydia seemed to enjoy slating the vehicle at every given opportunity.

“If you can call a remarkable breakdown frequency character,” Lydia responded sarcastically, sighing at the utter predictability of him leaping to the old thing’s defence. She knew it had sentimental value to him, and she’d gained a sort of respect for it since it had led him back to her, but that didn’t stop her annoyance over the fact it tended to break down whenever it did anything more strenuous than his usual route to school.

“You might worship that rust bucket,” she said, glancing quickly at him and surveying the look on his face. “But don’t expect me to.”

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles searched the aisles for Lydia as he wandered around the Seven Eleven they’d parked the car in front of. She’d sent him off to grab them a bottle of water and then disappeared, darting off to another aisle. They’d stopped to eat their lunch and use the bathroom in Bakersfield, and were discussing what kind of snacks they wanted for on the road when they decided to come in and buy some. Eventually he found her staring at a candy display, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Skittles?” she asked, holding up a couple of small bags in her hand. She’d obviously been waiting for him so they could choose together.

“Yeah,” he agreed, squeezing her gently and resting his chin on the top of her head before letting go, stepping towards the shelf to survey the other candy options. He picked up a packet of Reece’s peanut butter cups, but Lydia shot him a stern look.

“No,” she said, her eyes wide with disapproval.

“Why not?” he argued, wondering what her issue with them was. She closed her eyes, a look of slight exasperation on her face.

“Do you know how hot it is right now?” she explained, her voice raising a pitch. “They’ll melt.”

“So you’re saying we can’t have any chocolate,” he replied, raising his eyebrows at her.

“If you can find some chocolate that won’t melt, then go ahead,” she countered, her lips forming a thin line as she watched him study the display for some chocolate that wouldn’t melt.

“M&M’s don’t melt,” he stated, grabbing a few bags from the display.

“Are you sure?” she said, her tone disbelieving as her eyes narrowed.

“Kind of,” he replied, wincing slightly in anticipation of her reaction. She continued to glare incredulously at him. “I’m like seventy percent sure.”

“Well that’s comforting,” she deadpanned. He rolled his eyes.

“I’m sure we’ll eat them before they get a chance to melt anyway,” he countered, watching her consider his words. When she closed her eyes he knew she’d conceded.

“Fine,” she said quietly before meeting his eyes with a stern look. “But if they melt all over my car you’re cleaning it up.” He gave her a wide smile as he handed the M&M’s, which she held with the Skittles and the packet of strawberry Twizzlers she’d picked up.

They collected a few more bags of candy before moving to the cash register to pay. Lydia placed the candy on the counter and Stiles added the bottle of water, pulling his wallet out of his pocket as the cashier scanned their items. He quickly handed over the money as Lydia picked up their purchases and stepped to the side. Stiles and the cashier exchanged awkward smiles and thank you’s before he and Lydia left the store.

As they walked back to the car, Stiles noticed Lydia giving him a look. She’d obviously picked up on his body language back at the cash register. There was something about forced social interactions like cash register exchanges that made Stiles feel clumsy and uncomfortable and fixate on small insignificant details. The only person he’d really spoke about it with was Scott, and he just addressed the issue by doing all the interaction whenever they were at a cash register together. But now Lydia had clearly noticed.

“I hate interacting at cash registers,” he started to explain, screwing up his face as he thought about it. “I always start thinking I’m going to drop my change, and then I’m trying so hard not to drop my change that I do something else completely embarrassing.” Lydia offered him a warm smile, her eyes attentive as she listened to him.

“If it’s any consolation,” she began, handing him their candy and water so she could grab the keys out of her purse and give them to him. “I’m sure the person at the register sees enough people drop their change and do other awkward stuff that they won’t even remember.”

“It isn’t, but thanks,” he responded, smiling as he handed her back the candy as she slipped the keys into his pocket. It was nice that she tried to reassure him. He retrieved the keys from his pocket and unlocked the car, getting into the driver’s seat.

 

* * *

 

 

Blinding rays of unfiltered light shone through the windows as the car travelled along the empty road. They had finally reached Interstate 40, the road they would be driving on for the majority of their journey, and civilisation had swiftly disappeared. There was nothing around them except mountains and the blazing sun. Lydia sat on her phone as Stiles drove, the warm air from the open window blowing her ponytail.

“I hope you like mountain views,” she said, not looking up from her phone screen. “Because that’s all we’re going to be seeing for the next five hours.”

“As long as they keep the sun out of my eyes I don’t mind,” Stiles replied, and Lydia looked up to notice he was squinting as he drove even with the sun visor down.

“I have a pair of sunglasses in the glove compartment if you want them,” she told him, her hand already inching towards the opening latch.

“Nah, I’m good,” he said, shaking his head. Lydia let her hand relax, it falling against the denim of her shorts. “And anyway, who cares about the view out there when the view in here is much better.”

“That has to be one of the cheesiest lines you’ve ever given me,” Lydia responded, shaking her head but still grinning so widely that her cheeks started to hurt.

“C’mon, I’ve given you way worse lines than that,” Stiles argued, a tone of disagreement lacing his voice.

“I know,” said Lydia, still smiling. “I have a memorised list.” She closed the app she was scrolling through and locked her phone, setting it down on her legs. “And while that may not have cracked the top ten, it’s definitely up there.”

“You don’t seriously remember every bad line I’ve ever given you, do you?” asked Stiles, taking his eyes off the road quickly to shoot her a disbelieving look.

“Maybe,” she drawled, amused by the fact that not knowing the answer would bug him. “But there’s no way you’ll ever know.” She flashed him a winning smile, watching the subtle signs of frustration cross his face.

“What’s number one?” he asked, genuinely curious. His features creased in thought as he tried to think of what the answer could be.

“Oh that’s easy,” exclaimed Lydia, memories of the moment in question flooding into her thoughts. “Back in February when you took me out to that abandoned house.” Stiles smiled.

“In my defence,” he began, remembering that night. “I was trying to lighten the mood because you looked like you wanted to kill me for dragging you out of bed.” Lydia laughed, shaking her head.

“I didn’t mind that much,” she said, her voice softening as her smile brought out the dimples in her cheeks. “I wanted to, but…”

“Spending time with me was too hard to resist,” Stiles finished her sentence for her. She really had wanted to be annoyed with him for all the times he dragged her out of bed, and at the time she was, but those feelings always dissipated and she just ended up enjoying the time with him, as much as she hadn’t wanted to admit it.

“Something like that,” she responded, a beaming smile on her face as they briefly exchanged a glance, warmth spreading in her chest when she saw the amount of love reflected in his eyes.

It was almost strange to Lydia, being able to be this candid about her feelings after months of them being her deepest secret, even now. A few moments passed in silence as the car tore along the dusty interstate, nothing but the calming tune of the music playing filling the air.

“Hey, can you give me some Skittles?” asked Stiles, breaking the comfortable silence.

“Sure,” Lydia replied, digging around in the open bag of Skittles and withdrawing a handful. She took out the orange ones and then tipped the handful into his mouth. The dynamic between them felt so easy now, so comfortable, that Lydia wondered how anything else between them had ever felt normal. This was how they were supposed to be, and in that moment Lydia looked forward to the next few days being filled with moments like this one.

 

* * *

 

 

Lydia pushed open the door as she left the small store at the gas station, walking back out into the humid air. Her eyes fell on Stiles as she looked over at her car. He was leaning against the front of it, his legs crossed at the ankles and his focus on the ground as she made her way over.

“What are you doing?” she called as she walked towards him. “Posing for an album cover?”

“Waiting for you,” he replied, straightening up as she got closer. “Hey, did you just take a picture of me?”

Lydia laughed as she finished taking the picture of him leaning against her car, letting her arm fall back against her side.

“Maybe,” she answered playfully, stopping right in front of him.

“Let me see it,” he said, stepping away from the car towards her.

“No,” she teased, grinning as he stretched his arm out and attempted to take the phone from her hands. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her before kissing him. Immediately any attempt to take her phone stopped as his arms wound around her waist and pulled her closer, all effort now being put into kissing her. The fact they were at a gas station slipped completely from Lydia’s radar of concern. They were the only people here apart from the attendant inside, and she hadn’t been able to kiss him like this for hours. She was going to enjoy it, to temporarily forget that anything existed other than his lips on hers. Slowly they pulled apart, both of them obviously disappointed to stop.

“Nice distraction tactic,” said Stiles after they’d taken a moment to breathe. “Now let me see.”

“I’ll show you later before I post it,” Lydia told him, playfully chiding his impatience.

“You have your way of documenting this trip and I have mine,” she said, resting her hand on his arm. “So If I have to deal with you shoving that video camera of yours in my face while I’m driving then you’re having a few pictures taken.” He gave her a small smile, knowing she had a point.

“Now come here,” she said softly, slipping her arm around his waist. “I only have one of us so far.” She wanted as many pictures of the two of them together on this trip as she could get. She wanted everyone to see how happy she was with him. Just before she took the picture, he moved in and kissed her cheek, causing her to grin so wide that her face hurt. Looking at it, Lydia sighed, feeling the pure happiness that had been captured radiate from the picture.

 

* * *

 

 

So far, Arizona was exactly like the eastern side of California, nothing but mountains and open plains of dusty earth. The gas station they’d stopped at was right on the border, so they’d crossed over into Arizona shortly after leaving. Stiles had shot them crossing the border with the video camera. The Welcome to Arizona sign, the small river that ran underneath the road, some of the landscape. But he put the camera away fifteen minutes ago, and had been playing on his now fully charged phone ever since, until his screen went blank and a call started coming through. It was Scott.

Stiles felt a burst of happiness flow through him as he saw his best friend’s name flash on his phone screen. He accepted the call, letting Scott know that he was putting him on speaker.

“Hey guys,” Scott’s cheerful voice came through the phone. “How’s it going so far?”

“Well I haven’t thought about killing him yet if that’s what you’re wondering,” Lydia answered, a mischievous grin on her face as Stiles turned to glare at her.

“You still have four days,” Scott replied, a calm but teasing tone to his voice.

“Hey,” exclaimed Stiles. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I don’t take sides,” Scott responded. Stiles hoped Scott was picturing the look he’d be giving him if he were there with them now.

“I’m already getting close,” Lydia continued, her voice no longer carrying its previously playful tone. “He spent over half an hour arguing with me about which is the appropriate coloured Skittle not to eat.”

“She leaves the green ones Scott,” Stiles blurted in his defence.

“Well if you eat the green ones and she eats the orange ones then what’s the problem?” Scott replied, exasperation clear in his voice.

“Exactly,” Lydia added loudly.

“It’s the principle, Scott,” argued Stiles.

“Good luck Lydia,” Scott said slowly. Stiles could feel Scott’s eyes rolling, even through the phone.

“Thanks,” she replied, looking over at Stiles and smiling. He couldn’t even pretend to be mad at her after that.

“Anyway, where are you guys’ right now?” asked Scott after a second of silence.

“We’ve just crossed the border into Arizona,” answered Stiles, bringing the phone closer to his face. “We’re stopping for dinner soon.”

“The roads been okay?”

“Yeah,” said Stiles, looking at the currently empty road in front of them. “It’s been fine.”

“Good,” Scott replied before going quiet. “Well I’ve got to go, I’m on my break at work. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Cool.” The warmth from hearing Scott’s voice turned into a dull ache in Stiles’ chest. “Miss you already, buddy.”

“I miss you too,” Scott responded, his voice softening. “Bye Lydia.”

“Goodbye Scott,” she replied, smiling at Stiles as the line went dead.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh my god,” Lydia groaned from outside the driver’s side door. “You’re being such a tourist.”

“C’mon, you’ve got to just a little bit Lyds,” said Stiles as he strode across the diner parking lot, video camera in hand. “We don’t have time to stop at places.”

He turned on the camera, taking a panning shot of the surrounding area. It wasn’t much to look at, a small parking lot and a diner, but he’d been driving when they started on Route 66 so he hadn’t been able to film any obvious footage of the historic road yet. Now he had the chance.

“So here we are,” he narrated. “Out on Route 66.” He spun the camera around so it was facing the bright blue and pink of the diner’s exterior. “And this very blue building right here is where we’ll be eating our dinner. Hey, here comes Lydia.” She rolled her eyes at the camera as he filmed her walking towards him.

“Would you turn that thing off,” she grumbled, stopping a few feet to his right as he continued to spin the camera around the parking lot. “There’s really not that much to see here.”

“Yeah there is,” he argued.

“A parking lot,” she responded sarcastically. “Exciting.”

“A parking lot with the Route 66 sign in the middle of the asphalt,” he countered, pointing in the direction of the infamous logo emblazoned on the ground. The whole diner was Route 66 themed, and it was the first local attraction they’d seen on their journey, he was making the most of it.

“Next you’ll be asking me to take a picture of you standing on it,” Lydia stated, a bored tone to her voice.

“That’s a great idea,” Stiles responded.

“Oh god,” Lydia groaned.

“Not for me,” he stated, thinking of the pictures she’d been taking on their journey. “For your Instagram.”

Lydia narrowed her eyes, considering his point. They would make good road trip aesthetic pictures. So she gave in for a moment, taking pictures of the both of them standing over the Route 66 sign. After Lydia took a few pictures of the outside of the diner, they started to move inside. As they walked in the entrance, Lydia noticed that Stiles still had the video camera out, and on. She shot him a stern look.

“Would you put that thing away now,” she said quietly, her voice harsh against the cheerful hum of noise from the diner. “We’re inside. There are people eating.”

“I wanted to get a shot of inside the diner,” Stiles said in his defence.

“Well we’re inside now so,” Lydia replied, theatrically moving her hand up to cover the camera, pressing the off button.

“Lyds,” exclaimed Stiles. She just smiled, taking the camera from his hand and placing it in her purse before lacing her fingers with his and heading further into the diner.

Once they were seated and had ordered drinks, it didn’t take long for them to arrive. Lydia had a coke float and Stiles had a chocolate milkshake, which he was eyeing delightedly as Lydia sipped her drink.

“Wow,” she said, watching him from the other side of the table. “I have never seen someone so excited over a milkshake in my entire life.”

“Look at it,” he responded enthusiastically. “It looks amazing.” She did have to admit that it looked pretty good.

“Alright,” she said as he took his first sip of it. She wondered how much of it would be down his shirt or around his face by the time they left, even if he was drinking out of a straw. “It does.”

“Here, have some,” he said, sliding the tall glass across the table for her to take a sip. She did, noting that it tasted as good as it looked.

 

* * *

 

 

The night sky in Arizona was alive with stars. Lydia looked up at them as she strolled along the walkway towards their motel room for the night. The air was still and humid, a perfect summer night. She and Stiles walked slowly hand in hand.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get to stop at the Grand Canyon,” he said. After leaving the diner in Kingman, it hadn’t been long before it got dark. They were now in Holbrook, and had driven through Flagstaff and past the Grand Canyon as night was falling.

“Yeah,” sighed Lydia, stopping outside the room with the identical number to the one on their key. “We’ll have to do this trip again next year and leave early enough to have time to see local attractions.”

“I’m down for that,” said Stiles from beside Lydia as she slid the key into the door and unlocked it. They both stepped inside.

“It’s nice,” Lydia quietly remarked as she surveyed the room. She had originally been unsure about the idea of staying in motels, especially after what happened the last time they’d stayed in one, but Stiles talked her round. He wanted to make the road trip as classic as they could, which meant sleeping in motels. The room wasn’t that bad, nicely decorated with everything they needed, even if the orange theme to the room was rather bright.

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, closing the door behind them. Lydia set her purse and the bag containing her clothes down on the table opposite the bed.

“I’m going to use the bathroom,” she told him, heading towards the small bathroom at the end of the room. While she was in there, she could hear him giving a tour of the room with the camera, which caused to shake her head and smile.

 When she came out, he was still doing it. She raised her eyebrows at him, folding her arms across her chest. “Seriously?”

“What?” he responded. “I had to take some footage of the room. But I’m turning it off now.” He made a show of pressing the off button and putting the camera away.

“Good,” she replied.

After slipping the camera back into his bag, which he’d left on the floor at the side of the bed that wasn’t pressed up against the bathroom wall, Stiles made his way over to where Lydia was stood.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” he informed her as he shuffled past.

“Ok,” she responded, moving over to where her bag sat on the counter. She opened it up, examining the folded clothes and bags of makeup. She took out the small bag that she knew contained her toothbrush and other daily essentials, leaving it out ready to take into the bathroom.

Lydia backed away from the counter and turned around, about to walk over and sit on the bed when two arms snaked around her waist. She let out a hum of contentment, leaning into Stiles as his arms secured her body against his.

“I’m so glad we’re out of that car and stopping for the night,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“I know,” Lydia sighed, her skin enjoying the warmth of his touch. “My legs felt like they were going to seize up.” Stiles turned his head, gently kissing her neck. She gasped, titling her head to expose more of her neck to him.

“You know,” he said slowly, his voice low and his breath tickling her neck. Lydia closed her eyes, knowing how deliberate his movements were as he continued to kiss her neck, this time rougher. “You should probably stretch them out.”

“I should,” she said breathily, her eyes still closed as his hands started to move along the curve of her waist. She knew exactly what he was doing, and she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been waiting for this moment all day. Her blood was already starting to simmer wherever he touched her.

“I think I might be able to help you with that,” he said playfully, his lips brushing her neck and the curve of her shoulder as he spoke. She shivered.

“Oh yeah?” she replied, her resolve slowly disappearing as heat pulsed through her body. A low laugh turned to a gasp in her throat as his hands slowly moved across her stomach and started to undo the buttons of her sleeveless blouse.

“Are you tired?” he whispered, still kissing her neck as his hands moved upwards until her shirt was completely undone.

“Nope,” she breathed, arching into him as his hands moved across her chest and slid the open blouse down her arms, letting it fall onto the floor.

“Good,” he murmured into her neck, causing another wave of heat to rip through her. She turned around, crashing her lips against his. Every nerve in her body was on fire as the kiss became more desperate, her hands running down his back before they found the hem of his t shirt. His skin was hot against her fingertips, and she barely broke away from him as she tugged the shirt off, letting it fall to the floor as she pulled him towards the bed.

 

* * *

 

 

Lydia stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her hair spilling over her bare shoulders where she’d freed it from the mussed up ponytail it was in. She set the small hairbrush in her hand on the counter, looking in her bag for her makeup wipes. She was surprised she needed them. Between the humidity and the two times they had made good use of the bed, it was a wonder she hadn’t sweat it all off.

As Lydia dabbed at her eye with the wipe, she heard Stiles’ voice coming through the bathroom door. It sounded like he was on the phone to someone. She finished wiping off her makeup before heading back into the main part of their room, where she found Stiles laying with his head at the foot of the bed as he talked on the phone, the sheets draped over his waist and legs.

“No,” he said to the person on the other end. “The room is really nice.” Lydia thought that it must be his dad.

“Yes dad,” he said, confirming her suspicions. She ran her hand through his hair as she walked past him, settling on her stomach next to him.

“It was fine on the way up,” Stiles told his dad, shooting Lydia a warning look as she draped a large amount of the sheets over herself, pulling some off him. “No real traffic or problems.”

“Yes dad,” he said in response to whatever his dad had told him. Lydia propped herself up on her elbows as she listened to him, hair spilling over her shoulders and into her face. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Ok,” he said softly, smiling. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“You too dad. Bye.” He then hung up.

Lydia watched him flip onto his stomach and grab his bag from the floor, dropping his phone into it. The thought then suddenly occurred that she hadn’t yet updated her mother on how their trip had been so far.

“I forgot to call my mom,” she blurted, moving so she was sitting. She pulled the sheets up and held them against her chest.

“Will she be awake?” asked Stiles from beside her.

“Yeah,” Lydia answered, nodding her head. “She’ll still be up.” She took the sheets with her as she got off the bed, crossing the room to get her phone from her purse.

“Hey mom,” she said once her mom picked up, sitting back down on the bed.

“Hey,” her mother’s pleased voice relayed back, before turning slightly stern. “I was wondering when you’d call.” Lydia could tell that her mother had expected her to call much earlier. It was now after midnight. She felt heat flush her cheeks.

“Yeah, sorry it’s late,” she responded, laughing almost nervously. “We got here later than expected.” Beside her, Lydia heard Stiles laugh. She glared at him, feeling both the urge to laugh and more heat creep through her body.

“Don’t worry about it,” her mom replied, although Lydia knew her mother had been worrying just a little. “I’m just glad you called to check in. So how is everything?”

“Great,” answered Lydia, pushing her hair out of her face. “The room is nice, and we didn’t have any problems on the drive up.”

“That’s good,” her mom said. “And you’re having a good time?”

“Yeah,” she replied, unable to stop a smile forming on her face when she thought about the day they’d had. “We’re having a great time.”

“Great.” The line went silent for a split second. It was only then that Lydia noticed that the air conditioning was on. Stiles must have turned it on while she was in the bathroom. “Well, I’ll let you go so you can get some sleep. Call me tomorrow.”

“I will,” Lydia responded, calming happiness spreading through her chest. “Goodnight mom.”

“Goodnight,” her mother repeated. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” she said softly before hanging up the phone.

As soon as she put her phone back Lydia turned to Stiles, who was laying on his back with his hands folded behind his head.

“Hey,” she exclaimed, lightly tapping his arm.

“What?” he responded, startling harder than someone who had just been gently slapped should have. She shot him a look.

“You nearly made me start laughing on the phone to my mom,” she told him, struggling not to laugh herself as she said it.

“I just thought it was funny that you told her we just got here when we’ve been here for an hour and a half,” he explained. Lydia rolled her eyes.

“Well what was I supposed to say?” she argued, her eyes widening. As much as she and her mother were close, she wasn’t exactly going to tell her the real reason she hadn’t called sooner. “What did you tell your dad?”

“My dad didn’t ask why I was calling so late,” Stiles replied, a subtle hint of smugness in his voice that made Lydia squint at him.

After a few seconds passed, Lydia moved up to the other end of the bed and settled against the pillows, spreading the sheets out around her as she got comfortable. Stiles soon joined her, laying down next to her.

“So what now?” he asked, adjusting the pillow behind his head. “Should we stick the tv on?”

“Sure,” Lydia agreed, grabbing the remote off the nightstand and turning on the tv. They didn’t end up watching anything, they just left something on as background noise as they swiftly fell asleep, their bodies loosely tangled together.


	3. Chapter 3

“Its day two of our road trip,” said Stiles as he moved around their room, camera in hand. He passed the tv, pointing the camera at the bed where his and Lydia’s bags were sat. “And we’re almost ready to leave the motel and grab breakfast, I’m just waiting for Lydia to finish doing her hair and stuff.”

He wondered what the hell she was doing. She’d been in there for the best part of half an hour and they were already running behind schedule. He’d been left to quickly tidy the room up by himself.

“You almost done Lyds?” he called into the bathroom as he entered through the open door. “You’ve been doing your hair for like twenty minutes.” Lydia was leant towards the bathroom mirror, trailing a mascara brush over her eyelashes when she noticed he’d come in. She blinked at her reflection before swiftly turning around.

“Would you get that thing out of here while my makeup is only half done,” she exclaimed, waving her arm at him in an attempt to back him out of the door, the mascara brush poking out from her fist like a poorly crafted weapon. Stiles laughed.

“But you look beautiful with your makeup half done,” he told her, moving further inside the small bathroom so he was now stood behind her. She appeared to give up on any further attempts to usher him out. “And with it totally done, and with none at all. You always look beautiful.” She raised her eyebrows at him.

“Flattery is not going to work on me,” she responded, drawing the words out. Stiles had the camera pointed at the mirror as she made her way over, stopping beside him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. “Now go. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“You better be,” he said as he walked out of the bathroom. “I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” she called back, her voice echoing off the bathroom walls. Stiles turned the camera’s focus from the room to his face.

“She’s right,” he said to the camera, shrugging his shoulders before turning it off.

 It was at least another five minutes before Lydia emerged from the bathroom, her makeup completely done and her hair in a large bun. Once they had everything ready they left the room and checked out, walking over to the diner across the street for breakfast. It was quiet in the diner, and their table was far away from any of the other customers, which they both liked.

“So who’s driving first?” asked Stiles after a long period of silence, barely looking up from his pancakes.

“Well you did lose,” Lydia answered slowly, smug satisfaction lacing her voice as she drew the words out. She was referring to interesting little competition they’d ended up having in the shower this morning, which was the main reason they were running late.

“But I did the last stretch of driving yesterday,” Stiles highlighted, feeling heat creep into his cheeks as he thought about what she was referring to. He met her eyes. “And anyway,” he continued, the tone of his voice dropping to indicate the change of topic. “I would go as far as to argue that there were no losers in that competition.”

“Oh I agree,” Lydia replied, nodding, still sounding smug. She flashed him a winning smile from across the table. He was right in saying that there were no losers, but she had definitely won. Especially since after it was apparent she’d won the hands only rule went out of the window. “But you still lost.”

“It was a little friendly competition,” countered Stiles, feeling the heat that had settled in his cheeks start to spread. He dragged his eyes away from Lydia and focused on his plate. “We never discussed repercussions for losing.”

“Well we’re discussing it now,” Lydia pointed out, a lingering playfulness to the tone of her voice.

“If I’d have known the stakes were higher, I would have tried harder to win,” Stiles replied, his voice slightly hoarse. In his defence, she’d had a head start, and it wasn’t his fault she was so attractive, especially in the shower. He pressed his lips together, realising that he needed to stop thinking about earlier immediately.

“Well as much as I look forward to your next attempt,” said Lydia, biting her lip to suppress her laughter as she watched him drain half his glass of water very hurriedly. “You still lost this time.”

“How about I get breakfast,” he suggested, placing the glass of water back on the table and continuing to focus on his plate. “You still drive first.”

“Fine by me,” she agreed, turning back to her own plate. A few seconds of silence passed where neither of them spoke. “Now I should probably mention that you’ve had maple syrup on your cheek for the past five minutes.”

Stiles looked up from his plate abruptly, wiping the substance from his face and staring at his hand disbelievingly. Lydia shook her head, laughing as she placed the small piece of pancake speared on her fork into her mouth.

 

* * *

 

Lydia rolled her eyes as she quickly drew them away from the road, glancing over at Stiles in the passenger’s seat. His eyes were on his phone, his leg bouncing furiously as he searched for something on Google, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Did I,” Lydia began, her tone reminiscent of a warning parent. “Or did I not tell you not to drink that much at breakfast.”

“Can we spare the ‘I told you so’ until after we’ve found a bathroom?” Stiles fired back, sounding irritated. Lydia rolled her eyes again. She had warned him against drinking three glasses of water, but he claimed his pancakes were making his mouth dry and just kept asking for more.

“We aren’t even out of Arizona yet,” she replied, her voice high with exasperation. “We haven’t even been on the road an hour.”

“I’m aware of that,” he said frustratedly, clenching his fist where it rested on his leg. “But can we please just find a bathroom before I piss myself.”

“There’s a gas station ahead,” Lydia told him, her voice softening. As irritated as she was with him for drinking so much water, she did want his frustration to ease. Something about the tone of his voice had tugged at her heart, even if her head found the whole situation exasperating. The moment of softness soon disappeared as she remembered what he’d said yesterday while they were still in California. “I thought you said you’d learned your lesson on ingesting large quantities of liquid before long car journeys.”

“Well clearly I haven’t,” Stiles replied, closing his eyes against the frustration and urgency pulsing through him. He started bouncing both legs. Lydia increased her speed a little, slowing down when they approached the gas station she’d seen signs for until they came to a stop.

“Right, go,” she told Stiles as she undid her seatbelt. He was already halfway out the car. “I’m going to go inside and buy some candy.”

“Grab me some gummy bears please,” he called over his shoulder as he jogged towards the bathroom at the side of the gas station store. Lydia shook her head, rolling her eyes as she locked the car.

“Sure,” she shouted back, walking past the gas pumps as she made her way inside. Lydia sighed, a smile forming on her face. As much as Stiles pushed her buttons sometimes, he was hers, and she wouldn’t have him any other way.

 

* * *

 

Stiles drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he held his phone to his ear. They were currently stationary on a deserted exit road and his dad had called while on his lunch break. He glanced over at Lydia while his dad talked about work, watching her apply lipstick in the sun visor mirror. He’d forgotten it was past noon. Since they had a late breakfast, they probably wouldn’t be eating lunch until around two, so Stiles had been surprised when his dad called stating that he was having lunch.

“Yes dad,” he said, preparing to end the call. They’d been talking for almost ten minutes now. “I’ll call you tonight.” His dad said goodbye, and he repeated it back before hanging up. From the passenger’s seat, Lydia snickered.

“Stop laughing,” exclaimed Stiles, which only made Lydia laugh more.

“If he’d have called two minutes earlier,” sighed Lydia, putting her lipstick back into her purse. They’d already been pulled over at the side of the road when his dad had called.

“Please don’t make me think about that,” groaned Stiles, touching his forehead as he tried to force away the mental image. His thoughts then turned to Lydia, and how they’d ended up in this situation in the first place. “And anyway, that was not fair.”

“Oh really?” she said, a smug satisfaction to her voice as she raised her eyebrows at him. “Didn’t hear you complaining when I was-”

“That is not the point,” he loudly interjected, pointing his finger at her. She laughed. “The point is,” he continued, more calmly this time. “That is a totally unfair thing to do to a driver.”

 Lydia scoffed. The reason they’d ended up pulled over at the side of an exit road, is that she was getting so tired of his increasing deliberately off-key singing, that she tried to see how easy to was to put him off. It was apparently very easy. “But it was pretty amusing.”

“I will get you back for that,” declared Stiles, buckling his seatbelt back up.

Lydia smirked at him. “I look forward to it.”

 

* * *

 

The sight of large buildings appearing off the highway told Stiles that they were soon to be entering the next large city, which was good as the gas needle was hovering dangerously close to the red zone. They’d been driving surrounded by nothing but large expanses of dusty rock and dry plains for the last two hours, and he was thankful for the change of scenery.  Lydia had been sat quietly in the passenger’s seat reading one of her college textbooks. Stiles envied the fact she’d had something to look at other than endless rock.  His phone started to vibrate in his pocket, and he instructed Lydia to pull it out and see who was calling. She did, telling him it was Scott.

“What’s up man,” said Stiles once Lydia accepted the call, leaning closer to where she held the phone above the gearstick. “You’re on speaker.”

“Hey guys,” said Scott’s voice through the line. “Just wanted to see how things were going.”

“Well we’re currently on the way into Albuquerque with a dwindling gas supply,” Stiles informed him, glancing over at the gas needle again. The first thing they needed to do as soon as they reached Albuquerque was stop for gas, then they could grab some food. “What about you?”

“At home by myself,” answered Scott, sounding almost fed up. “I’m so bored without you here.”

“I’d agree with you, but Lydia would kill me,” joked Stiles, quickly checking Lydia’s face for a reaction. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Nah we’re fine, but I miss you.”

“Yeah I miss you too,” Scott replied.

“Alright, break it up,” Lydia interjected, closing the textbook in her lap.

“Hey Lydia,” said Scott, an amused tone to his voice.

“Hi Scott,” she replied, smiling. Lydia’s arm started to ache so she swapped hands, stretching out her other arm so the phone was still a decent way between her and Stiles.

“Still not thought about killing him yet?” asked Scott. Stiles jerked his head in the phone’s direction, shooting it an incredulous stare as if Scott could see it.

“I don’t know,” Lydia responded, dragging the words out. “Between his singing, his video camera, and his propensity for throwing candy in the air to catch it in his mouth but missing.” She shot an accusatory glare at Stiles. “I’d say I’m pretty close.”

“Hey,” he exclaimed. Scott laughed.

“Love you,” she said sweetly, beaming at him and batting her eyelashes.

“Love you too,” he replied softly, quickly meeting her eyes. The smile she gave him made his heart almost stop.

“Um guys,” came Scott’s voice tentatively through the phone. They stopped looking at each other, putting their attention back on the road in front of them. “Don’t forget I’m still here.”

Stiles laughed, shaking his head. “We won’t.”

 

* * *

 

Lydia turned up the music as the car blasted down the interstate, quickly glancing in the rear view mirror. It was an hour since they’d eaten lunch, and about ten minutes ago Stiles went uncharacteristically quiet after messing around with the video camera for a while, bugging Lydia so much with it that she almost took the straw out of her empty Starbucks cup and wiped the remaining dregs of whipped cream from her frappuccino on him. She quickly looked over at where he sat staring intently at his phone screen, enjoying the quiet, at least until he moved his hand and rested it on her bare leg.

At first he just affectionately rubbed her thigh, smiling at her when she looked at him, but then his hand started to move, pushing the skirt of her dress up as it did. Realisation shot through Lydia in a heated wave. She pursed her lips.

“I know what you’re doing,” Lydia told Stiles, her voice tight and accusatory. He said he was going to get her back for what she’d done to him earlier, and now he was trying. “And it’s not going to work.”

“Oh yeah?” he replied slowly, moving his hand to the inside of her leg. Lydia bit her lip.

“Yeah,” she said sternly, trying to ignore the fact that every cell in her leg appeared to be tingling where he touched her. A few seconds of silence passed where neither of them said anything and he didn’t move his hand, but then just when her guard was down he moved higher up her leg. Lydia pressed her lips firmly together, breathing in through her nose so sharply that she almost hissed.

“I don’t know,” said Stiles, his tone smug. “It seems to be working to me.”

“Well it isn’t,” she lied, her jaw slightly clenched. “So nice try.”

“I guess I’ll just try harder then,” he replied, and Lydia fought the urge to close her eyes as treacherous heat rushed through her body. She hated the fact that her feet were glued to the pedals.

“You don’t need to do that,” she told him, her voice tight and shaky, giving away her already thin defence. Hot frustration flushed her skin as she glanced over at him, seeing his satisfied smirk. Focus on the road, she told herself, clenching the steering wheel as she tried to ignore him. She failed. His next move made her bite the inside of her cheeks so hard she was surprised she didn’t draw blood.

“You okay?” asked Stiles with feigned innocence after a few minutes had passed. Lydia was now having trouble keeping still. “You seem a little flustered.”

“Its a hundred degrees,” she said breathily, swallowing hard as the back of his fingers grazed the inside of her other thigh. “What did you expect?”

“We have the air conditioning on,” he countered, causing Lydia to expel a deep breath through her nose. The air conditioning was on, not that Lydia noticed. Her entire body felt like it was on fire from the chest down. She sighed, realising that she couldn’t keep going like this.

“What are you doing?” asked Stiles as Lydia pulled up the navigation system on the car’s screen, zooming in on the section of road they were on and dragging down. She took a deep breath, the burn of defeat spreading through her.

“Looking for the nearest place I can pull over this car,” she explained heatedly, not even looking at the smug grin that he was inevitably sporting. A low laugh hummed in his throat.

“I told you I’d get you back,” he said, his words dripping with self satisfaction. It made her blood boil. A sign at the side of the road indicated there was a rest area nearby.

“Shut up,” she hissed, steering the car into the outside lane.

 

* * *

 

Stiles steered the car down the exit, being careful not to go too fast as he rounded the slight corner in order to not disturb Lydia as she slept in the passenger’s seat. She’d been out for almost an hour now, not long after they got back on the road after their last stop. He drove into the parking area of the travel stop just off the interstate, pulling the car into a spot near the door. Before Stiles got out, he took a long look at Lydia. She was leaning to the side, her hand under her head as it rested against the window. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought about how peaceful she looked, and before he realised what he was doing, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a picture of her.

As Stiles was undoing his seatbelt, he noticed Lydia stir out of the corner of his eye. He shoved the seatbelt over his shoulder, turning all his attention to her as she blinked and shifted awake.

“Where are we?” she mumbled as her eyes searched the landscape out of the window, her voice still heavy from sleep.

“We’re at a travel stop,” he told her softly, watching the last of her sleep induced haziness dissipate. “I need to use the bathroom real quick.”

“How long was I asleep?” she asked, yawning and stretching as she adjusted to being awake again. Her neck felt stiff, and she winced as she sat herself upright.

“Like an hour,” said Stiles, gently touching her arm. Lydia smiled as she met his eyes, his face no longer blurry. “Stay there, I’ll be right back.” He then opened the door and left the car.

Lydia stretched in her seat while he was inside, trying to ease out the stiffness in her muscles. Stiles didn’t take long, and soon they were back on the road again.

“Do you know what this road reminds me of?” said Stiles a few minutes after they got back on the interstate, looking at the cloudless sky over the flat plains out of the window. Lydia turned attentively towards him. “When I was a kid.”

“When I used to go on vacation with mom and dad,” he elaborated, smiling as he thought of his old childhood memories. “We’d always go in the car, and I used to be a giant pain in the ass, asking if we were there yet every five minutes.” Lydia smiled.

“You? Really?” she said with exaggerative sarcasm, her eyes widening in feigned shock. “That sounds completely unbelievable.” Stiles shook his head as an amused grin formed on his face.

“So anyway,” he said, glancing quickly at Lydia. “I used to be a pain in the ass, especially if there wasn’t much to look at out the window. So my mom used to make up stories about the stuff out the window to keep me quiet.” He sighed, picturing her leaning between the front seats and pointing things out to him. “I loved it.”

Lydia’s heart filled with warmth as she saw the happiness on his face when he talked about his mother. She was glad his memories of her were good. It was more than she could say about her dad, even if he was still alive.

“We never went on vacation in the car,” she said, an almost flat tone to her voice. “Always on an aeroplane.” A small ache cracked through the happy glow in her chest as she thought about her parents before they got divorced, trying to push the memories away. “And half of the time I just remember being taken wherever mom and dad wanted to go as they tried not to argue in public.”

The emotionless tone to Lydia’s voice tugged painfully at Stiles’ heart. He wanted to reach out and take her hand, but instead he just gave her a sad smile.

“It sucks that your family vacation memories aren’t as happy as mine,” he said tenderly. The genuineness in his voice drove the ache away, as did the love and concern in his eyes. He cared so much that it made her breath catch.

“Its fine,” she said quietly, shooting him a thin smile before grabbing his hand from where it rested on the gearstick, lacing her fingers with his and squeezing. “I’ll just have to make better ones.”

 

* * *

 

“Are you done stealing my fries?” asked Stiles, raising his eyebrows at Lydia as she took another one of the long fries from his plate. She dropped it onto her plate, cut it in half and dipped one half in the dressing on her salad before eating it.

“No,” she said after she’d finished her mouthful, shooting him a playful smile. He rolled his eyes.

“If you wanted some that bad,” he started, watching her cut a chunk off the end of her steak. “You should have just got some.” Lydia looked up from her plate, meeting his eyes from across the table.

“Well I want to put some balance into what I eat on this trip,” she explained, which was one of the main reasons she suggested having dinner at a sit down restaurant rather than a fast food place. The other reason was location. They’d just entered Amarillo and had seen signs for restaurant chains, and they were both hungry so she suggested stopping to eat. “Which is more than you can say.”

 Stiles opened his mouth to argue, but Lydia cut him off. “The slice of lettuce in your burger at lunch doesn’t count.”

“Damn,” he whispered. She rolled her eyes.

“Honestly,” she said, skewering the other half of the stolen fry and smearing it with salad dressing. “I’m surprised I’ve not had to talk you out of eating burgers for every meal.”

“I would totally do that,” he responded, his eyebrows raised in consideration as he placed a forkful of steak into his mouth.

“I know,” she replied, watching him chew. “And I’m morally obligated to stop you from doing that.”

“That’s no fun,” he said, his voice muffled by the mouthful he was halfway through swallowing. As he reached for his glass of coke to wash the mouthful down, she leaned over the table and took another fry off his plate. “Hey!”

“Last one,” she declared, setting it down on her plate with a smile. He rolled his eyes.

“Sure,” he said sarcastically, shaking his head as he continued eating his food.

 

* * *

 

The sky was glowing a furious orange as the sun started to set, streaks of cloud creating bursts of deep purple. Lydia had her music playing quietly, and there had been a peaceful silence in the car for a while, which was welcome after the discussion she and Stiles had been having about the perceived validity of including instrumental songs in playlists for car journeys. She looked out of the window at the sunset, almost sad that she wouldn’t be able to take a picture of it since she was driving. She had an idea.

“Hey,” she said, looking over at Stiles. “Could you take a picture of the sunset for me?” He was slouched in the passenger’s seat on his phone, his head jerking in her direction once she spoke.

“Sure,” he replied, blinking like his body had moved too fast and his brain needed a second to catch up. “Where’s your phone?”

“In my purse,” she told him, which was down by his feet. He picked up the bag, heading immediately for the side compartment in the purse’s lining where she kept her phone.

“It’s a pattern password, right?” he asked as the screen illuminated, smiling at her background picture. It was of the two of them taken after graduation. If he remembered correctly, Scott was the one who took the photo.

“Yeah,” she answered. Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Malia all knew each other’s phone passwords. It had started as a kind of safety precaution, suggesting that they all knew in case they needed to use the others’ phone if something had happened, but then it just became a running joke of filling up whoever left their phone on the desk in the library’s photo gallery. Stiles traced the pattern on the screen.

“Got it,” he declared once he’d taken a picture of the sunset and empty road in front of them. He took a picture of Lydia driving too, but he didn’t think she noticed. Her eyes were fixed on the road, and the warm orange of the sunset made her hair almost glow. He sent the picture to himself before locking her phone and putting it back in her purse, getting out his video camera afterwards.

“Here we go again,” said Lydia in an exaggeratedly bored tone as soon as she noticed the camera was out.

“What?” replied Stiles, pressing down the on button. “It’s a nice sunset. Plus this will be the last time I’ll be able to record outside and actually see anything.” Lydia sighed, shaking her head. He did have a point, by the time they reached the border and crossed into Oklahoma it would be dark.

“The sun is setting here as we’re getting close to the Oklahoma border,” Stiles narrated, pointing the camera at the windscreen before swinging it round. “It looks pretty cool, doesn’t it Lydia.”

“If it’s so cool then maybe you should be pointing the camera at it and not me,” she retorted, shooting Stiles a look.

“You look better,” he replied. She shook her head, but she was smiling so wide that the dimples in her cheeks were showing.

“But I’m sure you didn’t turn that thing on just to film me driving,” she said, focusing back on the road. “It hardly makes for interesting footage.” As Stiles thought about it, he guessed that a significant amount of the footage he’d taken already was of her driving. He couldn’t help but focus the camera on her, capturing her every move and expression while she was completely carefree and unfiltered. He was glad he’d decided to video document their trip, and he knew that when he sat in his dorm room missing her, he’d be watching this footage.

“It’s better footage then when you kept turning up the music every time I tried to talk,” he replied, bringing a self satisfied smile to Lydia’s lips as she thought of the memory.

“No,” she said slowly, her voice dripping with playfulness. “I think any footage where you aren’t talking is better than footage of me driving.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Stiles as Lydia shot him a sweet smile, giving her a look of mild offence. In response, she placed her hand on his leg, squeezing it affectionately before she took his hand in hers.

 

* * *

 

“Whoa,” said Stiles as they walked into their room for the night. Lydia closed the door behind him, taking a look around. The room was larger than the one they stayed in last night, with the bed in the centre of the room and a much more muted colour scheme. She nodded in approval.

“This room is much nicer than the one we stayed in last night. Check out the bed.” Stiles then dropped his bag on the floor and threw himself backwards onto it.

“Yeah,” said Lydia as she dropped her bags onto the table in front of the wall mounted mirror. “No one will end up squashed against the wall tonight.”

“You say that like you were the one who slept squashed up against the wall,” retorted Stiles, resting on his elbows and watching Lydia as she grabbed her toiletry bag out of her overnight bag.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she said as she walked past the foot of the bed towards the back of the room. “So do your annoying filming now.”

“It’s not annoying,” called Stiles over his shoulder, moving into a sitting position. “That said, like half the footage is me bugging you while you’re driving, so I see your point.”

“Only half?” came Lydia’s voice from inside the bathroom. Stiles laughed to himself before getting to his feet and grabbing the camera from his bag.

He did a quick tour of the room with the camera, stopping when Lydia came out of the bathroom and started taking her makeup off in the mirror. He stood beside her as she wiped her face, narrating the end of the day’s footage before kissing her on the cheek and then turning the camera off and putting it away.

“You using the bathroom now?” asked Lydia as she pulled bobby pins out of her hair, watching Stiles in the mirror.

“Yup,” he answered as he walked back to the far end of the room.

“I’m going to call my mom,” she said as she pulled her hair out of its bun and replaced it with a ponytail, turning to look at Stiles as he stood in the bathroom doorway. “Figured we should probably call our parents first this time.”

“Good idea,” he agreed before closing the door. Lydia made her way over to where she left her purse, pulling out her phone and calling her mother. She picked up after the second ring.

“Hey mom,” said Lydia, sitting down on the chair in the corner of the room.

“Hey,” her mom replied, sounding obviously happy to hear from her. “How are you?”

“Good,” she answered, kicking off her shoes. “We’ve just got to our motel so we’re getting ready for bed.”

“How was your day?” her mom asked. Lydia watched Stiles come out of the bathroom and grab his phone from his pocket, falling backwards onto the bed as he called his dad.

“Good,” she answered. “The drive was okay. We hit a little bit of traffic back in New Mexico but other than that the roads have been fine.”

“That’s good then,” her mom responded. Lydia heard something clink in the background on her mother’s end of the line. It was probably her pouring a glass of wine. “Still having fun?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding her head despite the fact her mother couldn’t see her.

“Good,” her mom replied, followed by a subtle sipping sound, confirming Lydia’s suspicions that her mother had just poured herself a drink.

“How are you, mom?” asked Lydia, realising that in the two phone calls they’d had since she left, they’d only spoken about her.

“I’m fine,” she answered. Lydia felt happy relief wash through her. “Missing you, of course, but I’m okay.”

“Good,” Lydia replied, her smile making her voice slightly higher. There was a moment of silence.

“Well I’m going to let you go so you can sleep,” her mother said after the small pause. “Talk tomorrow.”

“Love you mom,” said Lydia.

“Love you too,” her mother replied. “Bye.”

“Bye.” The beep signalling the end of the call signalled.

After Lydia plugged her phone into her charger at the wall, she walked over to where Stiles was sprawled across the bed. He was just getting off the phone with his dad. Lydia stood in front of where his legs dangled off the bed, stepping back when he sat up and placed his phone on the nightstand.

“So how’s your dad?” asked Lydia.

“Good,” Stiles answered, nodding his head slightly. “Says he’s feeling a little lonely without me there, but work’s keeping him busy. How’s your mom?”

“She’s fine,” Lydia told him, stepping closer. “Says she misses me but is doing okay.”

“Good,” he replied, motioning for Lydia to come closer until she was stood between his legs. She bent down and kissed him once before climbing into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as her knees rested against his hips on the bed. One of his arms snaked up her back as he ran his other hand up her thigh.

“And now we have the rest of the night to ourselves,” he said, kissing her collarbone. She titled her head back, closing her eyes.

“I guess we should start making the most of it then,” she breathed, her fingers slipping into his hair as she leaned in to kiss him.


	4. Chapter 4

The air from the open car window kept blowing Lydia’s hair into her face, which was becoming increasingly irritating. She’d put her sunglasses on to keep it, and the incredibly bright sun, out of her eyes, but the strawberry blonde wisps kept floating across her face, tickling her nose and occasionally flying into her mouth. She’d wanted to wear her hair up this morning, but decided leaving it down looked better with the blue daisy print dress she was wearing. It also hid the purple mark on her neck she’d woken up with that even her foundation couldn’t cover.

“I’m still hungry,” said Stiles, breaking the comfortable silence they’d been sitting in since they drove through Oklahoma City. Their room had come with a free breakfast so they’d eaten there, but that was an hour ago back in El Reno, and the breakfast had been slightly smaller than if they’d eaten at a fast food place.

“Of course you are,” replied Lydia, rolling her eyes slightly. She didn’t think she knew anyone as constantly hungry as he was. “I don’t know, maybe you’ve dropped enough candy on the floor that there’s an adequate snack under the passenger’s seat.”

“I haven’t dropped that much,” Stiles argued, glancing at the floor to check that there weren’t any colonies of dropped Skittles gathered there to prove her point.

“There is video evidence that proves otherwise in your bag,” Lydia stated, referring to yesterday afternoon when Stiles had recorded himself throwing a combination of Skittles and Mike & Ike’s into the air to catch in his mouth.

“Which we haven’t watched back yet,” he highlighted, regarding the exasperated look Lydia was giving him. “And I don’t feel like I dropped that much.”

“You recorded yourself throwing candy in the air and trying to catch it in your mouth for fifteen minutes,” she replied, pushing a section of hair behind her ear as she looked over at him. “I’m pretty sure you missed more than you caught.”

“Hey,” he said defensively, like his goofing off was some kind of competitive sport. “I was doing it one handed, and trying to keep the camera steady. That was difficult.”

“You still dropped most of them,” she responded.

“Half,” he argued, his voice rising. “Maybe not even that.” Lydia rolled her eyes, wondering why he was even trying to defend something so ridiculous in the first place.

“We’ll just have to see who’s right when we get to DC, wont we,” she told him, finishing with a playful smile that indicated there was some competition to be had. Stiles raised his eyebrows in consideration, letting her know that her challenge was accepted.

 

* * *

 

“Do you know what I’ve just realised,” Lydia mused as she scrolled through her Instagram feed.

“No,” replied Stiles without looking away from the road. “Because I can’t read minds.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “But I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”

“That we’ve been on the road to DC for three days,” she began to explain. “And yet we’ve barely spoke about college.”

“Oh,” said Stiles, and Lydia noticed something in the tone of his voice that stirred up slight concern. He sounded almost sad, and he still hadn’t looked at her since she mentioned it.

“So how are you feeling about it?” she asked softly, looking at him attentively. He met her eyes for half as second.

“Excited,” he said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “Nervous, I guess.”

Everything about college had Stiles feeling conflicted. One the one hand, he was incredibly exited to start his programme and was looking forward to what it would involve, but every time he thought about being so far away from everyone he loved his insides ran cold, especially when he thought of having to say goodbye to Lydia at the end of this trip. He knew that it was a stressful time for everyone, but dealt with that stress by not talking about or acknowledging it at all, which was why having her notice had made him feel anxious.

“Like I’m super excited about my classes and stuff,” he told her, fighting the urge to start bouncing his leg. He paused, licking his lips as uneasiness flared in his chest. “But I guess I’m realising just how far away I’m going to be from you, from Scott, from everyone.”

“Yeah,” said Lydia softly, pulling her bottom lip under her top lip as she looked at him. She understood how he felt, and would be lying if she said that she wasn’t feeling the exact same thing. The thought of leaving him at the end of this made her heart hurt, especially so soon after getting him back. “It’s going to suck. But you know we’ll visit each other whenever we can.”

“Oh yeah,” he agreed immediately, sounding much less troubled, almost enthusiastic. “And we’re totally Skyping like every day. You aren’t getting out of that.”

“I wouldn’t want to,” replied Lydia, giving him a warm smile. He shot her a thin smile in return, loudly exhaling as he turned his attention back to the road.

“It’s such a huge change,” he said slowly, considering the significance of it. “We’ve spent our whole lives in that little messed up town, and now we’re out.” Lydia smiled at him.

“It’s going to be great,” she said, reaching out and touching his arm. “Despite the parts that are going to suck.” Stiles looked at where her fingers rested on him, their warmth comforting against his skin.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I know.”

“Good,” she replied.

 

* * *

 

Stiles brought the tray of food over to the corner table where Lydia sat glancing out of the window. It was noisy, several conversations happening all at once with a backdrop of screaming children, and she was trying not to let the sounds grate on her patience levels. Stiles sat down in the chair opposite her, grabbing a handful of his fries, the larger portion, and shovelling them in his mouth. Lydia grabbed her food off the tray and delicately lifted the lid to the cardboard container holding her food.

“I saw five different places to eat from the interstate,” she said as she took one of the fries from her portion and dipped it in ketchup. “And you chose here?”

“We went to Burger King yesterday,” he replied, opening the cardboard box containing his burger. “And you don’t like it as much.” Lydia slipped another fry into her mouth.

“I’m just surprised that you didn’t take us to IHOP,” she said after swallowing it. Stiles raised his eyebrows in consideration, titling his head slightly to the side.

“I thought about it,” he told her, which didn’t surprise her. “But then I realised how much I wanted some McDonald’s fries.” She shot him an incredulous look.

“They are inarguably the best fast food fry, Lyds,” he stated loudly, each word coming out of his mouth a fraction of a second faster than the previous one.

“Oh I’m not arguing,” she replied, glancing down at his hands where they rested against the table, one flat and the other curled into a fist. “I was just wondering if you thought I hadn’t noticed you taking my chicken nuggets,” she explained, playfully slapping the hand he’d concealed it in.

“This is the first one I took,” he said defensively, holding both hands up, the chicken nugget trapped between his fingers. He put it in his mouth, continuing after he’d eaten it. “And hey, considering how many of my fries you stole last night, I don’t think taking one chicken nugget is that bad.” She rolled her eyes, laughing before continuing to eat her food.

They ate mostly in silence, with Lydia occasionally laughing at Stiles when the contents of his burger fell out of the side and onto the table. The noise in the place was starting to give Lydia a mild headache, and she was thankful for the moment they finished eating so they could leave. As they were standing up to leave, Lydia straightening out the thin cream cardigan she wore over her dress, Stiles turned to her.

“Hey, do you feel like ice cream?” he asked.

“Why?” she replied as she grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder.

“I was going to pick some up to take back to the car,” he answered. Lydia grabbed the tray so she could take the left over’s to the trash on her way to the bathroom.

“It’s my turn driving so you’ll end up eating most of it,” she responded, noting from the smile that Stiles gave her that that was part of the plan. She closed her eyes, shaking her head before looking him firmly in the eye.

“If you spill McFlurry in my car, you’re walking the rest of the way to DC,” she said sternly, turning to walk towards the back as he rejoined the queue.

“How many times have you threatened me with that?” he called after her.

“I lost count yesterday,” she replied, turning around and flashing him a smile before disposing of their trash and disappearing through the door to the bathrooms.

 

* * *

 

“What’s that?” said Lydia, responding to the noise that sounded like a mixture between a phone ringing and the clichéd noise people made when they imitated something sinking in water that had emerged over the music playing in the car. Stiles moved suddenly, starting to reach for the front pocket of his jeans.

“Me,” he told Lydia. “I’m getting a video call.” He freed the phone from his pocket and answered the call. “It’s Scott.”

“Hey,” said Scott’s voice through the phone.

“Hey Scott,” Stiles replied, looking down at the image as it came into focus. “And Malia.”

“Hi,” she said, waving and smiling. Stiles felt pleasant surprise at seeing both of them spread in his chest.

“Can you see us okay?” asked Scott. Judging by the brief amount Stiles could see in the background, he guessed that they were at Scott’s house.

“Yeah,” Stiles answered, nodding.

“Tilt your phone so we can see both of you,” instructed Malia, and Stiles did as she said, holding the phone at a sideways angle so that Lydia was in the shot.

“Hey Lydia,” said Malia.

“Hey guys,” Lydia replied, quickly glancing in the direction of the camera but not for long enough to concentrate on the image as the road was pretty busy. “How are you? Sorry I can’t turn around, I’ve got to keep my eyes on the road.”

“It’s cool,” said Scott.

“We’re good,” added Malia, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear on screen. “We’ve just been hanging out here.”

“You guys called them without me?” a third voice from the background said, sounding disappointed.

“Liam?” blurted Stiles. On the screen, Scott and Malia shuffled around as Liam stepped into view, Malia moving to the left of the screen where Scott had been and Scott moving behind her and Liam, his head appearing in the gap between their shoulders.

“Yeah,” Liam confirmed, smiling. “It’s me.”

“We managed to un-stick him from Hayden’s face long enough to get him to come over,” Malia stated, making both Stiles and Lydia laugh. Liam shot Malia a look. Even Scott was trying not to laugh.

“Hey Liam,” said Stiles, lingering amusement from the previous comment lacing his voice. “How’s alpha training going?”

“Good,” nodded Liam, hair falling into his eye which he then pushed back. “I think I’m really getting it.”

“Let’s hope so,” Stiles replied. “The future of Beacon Hills is at stake here.”

“No pressure there,” said Liam sarcastically. Stiles grinned at him. “So anyway, how are you guys?”

“We’re good,” Stiles answered.

“Getting any closer, Lydia?” Scott interjected, a playful tone to his voice. Lydia laughed.

“Oh yeah,” she said exaggeratedly, drawing the words out. Stiles pressed his lips into a thin line, shooting Scott an unimpressed look. Scott seemed rather amused by it.

“What?” said Liam, screwing up his face as he glanced at Scott and then back at the screen. “I’m confused.”

“Never mind,” said Scott, still sounding entertained. Stiles decided it was time to change the subject.

“What have you guys been up to?” he asked.

“Not much,” Liam answered. “It’s really weird without you guys here.”

“Yeah,” added Malia. “Even though Lydia has been texting me a lot it still feels odd.”

“We do really miss you guys,” said Lydia from the driver’s seat, quickly looking at the screen and smiling at everyone.

“We miss you too,” replied Malia, tilting her head slightly as she spoke. Liam nodded and hummed in agreement. A moment of silence passed where everyone seemed to consider the mutual sense of missing their friends.

“So how’s the road?” Liam asked, breaking the silence. “Seen many sights?”

“Not really,” Stiles answered. “Arizona is literally just desert, and New Mexico.” He counted on his fingers the states they’d passed through, waving his arm around as he did. “We were in Texas for a grand total of two hours, and Oklahoma City was pretty nice, but other than that, Oklahoma wasn’t much to look at either.”

“So where are you now?” asked Liam.

“Arkansas,” answered Stiles, quickly glancing out of the passenger’s side window. “And so far it’s mostly fields.”

“Sounds exciting,” Liam replied sarcastically.

“That’s just him being easily bored,” Lydia countered, rolling her eyes at Stiles before quickly looking at the screen. “I’ve appreciated the views.”

“Yeah I forgot what he’s like on long distance drives,” said Scott. Stiles jerked his head, shooting Scott and incredulous glare.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked loudly. Scott rolled his eyes.

“Dude, you know what that means,” he replied, emphasising his words. Stiles raised his eyebrows in consideration. They had known each other since they were kids, so Scott was no stranger to his annoying habits. He guessed he had a point.

“And now, so do I,” added Lydia, taking the same tone of exaggerated exasperation.

“Hey,” Stiles blurted, his eyes darting from Lydia to Scott and back again. “How come whenever Scott calls it turns into gang up on Stiles time?” Lydia shook her head, quietly laughing.

“It’s only because we love you, buddy,” said Scott, who was also subtly laughing.

“Yeah well it’s a funny way of showing it,” grumbled Stiles, which made Scott close his eyes and laugh even harder and Lydia shake her head, affectionately squeezing his shoulder as she smiled at him.

 

* * *

 

Stiles watched the road signs as they passed, looking out for ones signalling the Arkansas/Tennessee border. He knew it was close, and he’d filmed every border crossing so far, including the crossing into Oklahoma which had been less than a minute worth of footage due to it being dark. He’d asked Lydia to film the borders they’d crossed while he’d been driving, which seemed to be most of them. His leg was bouncing in anticipation, and every instinct was telling him to reach down and grab the camera

“We’re about to cross into Tennessee, aren’t we?” he asked Lydia, looking over at her.

“Yeah,” she answered, quickly looking into the mirror at the cars around them. Traffic had started to pick up a little further down the road, another give away that they were approaching Tennessee. “The border line is on the Hernando De Soto bridge, which we’re about to go over.”

Lydia’s words seemed to release a burst of energy in Stiles, and he reached down for his bag and grabbed the camera.

“We’re on our way out of Arkansas right now,” he started to narrate, focusing on the trees lining road outside the passenger’s side window. “Which is the sixth state we’ve driven through on this trip.” He slowly panned the camera around until it was focused on Lydia in the driver’s seat “and into Tennessee.”

“And here’s Lydia giving me the same look of exasperation as she did when I said that if someone made a drinking game based on how many trucks we’ve seen today, everyone playing would die of alcohol poisoning,” Stiles continued, amusement clear in his voice over the look Lydia was giving the camera. She rolled her eyes.

“That’s because you need to find better ways of amusing yourself while I’m driving,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Some of the questions you’ve asked me, I wonder how you even thought of them.” About an hour ago, Stiles had gotten bored and bizarrely philosophical, asking her all the obscure questions he’d thought of. “Don’t you have a book to read or something?”

“I tried reading that textbook you’ve been reading,” he told Lydia, the heavy book sitting solidly under his feet. “But I got through like half a page before I couldn’t understand a thing so I gave up.” Lydia pursed her lips in consideration. “And I think after three days, if I had a book I would’ve finished it by now.”

“Fair enough,” she said. They approached the foot of the bridge, and Stiles swung the camera around so its focus was on the Memphis skyline emerging on the right.

“And here’s Tennessee,” he narrated, turning the camera to get everything in shot. “The Mississippi river, and that bridge Lydia told me the name of but I’ve now forgotten.”

“Hernando De Soto,” Lydia reminded him.

“That bridge,” he said loudly, titling the camera up to film the structure of the bridge as they approached. “And so far Tennessee is officially the most interesting state we’ve driven through. Not a field or desert stretch in sight.”

“We aren’t even over the border yet,” Lydia pointed out. “The line is right there.”

“Oh yeah,” said Stiles, trying to get the line on the road representing the border between Arkansas and Tennessee on camera but failing. They drove over it. “Now we’re in Tennessee, and it’s still the most interesting state we’ve driven through so far.”

“It’s about to get even more interesting,” said Lydia, her voice laced with excitement. “Wait until you see where we’re having dinner.” Stiles blinked at her.

“You’ve already arranged dinner?” he asked in mild disbelief. He knew they’d be eating dinner when they reached the next big city, but usually they just Googled what was in the area that they could get to and get back on the I-40 after, but she’d actually planned in advance where they were eating dinner.

“Yeah,” she replied, sounding pleased with herself. “On my phone while you were driving earlier.” She smiled at him, and he could already tell that she’d arranged something good.

“You know how you said it kinda sucked that we weren’t getting to see many sights or landmarks,” she said.

“Yeah,” he replied slowly, the urge for her to get to her point bubbling under his skin. He’d already begun tapping his leg, trying to keep the camera steady as the movement rippled through his body.

“Well,” she grinned. “We’re having dinner in the Memphis historic district, so there will be plenty to see.”

His heart felt like it was going to burst as he looked at her. He didn’t even know much about the Memphis historic district, or the historic landmarks in many of the states they’d driven through, but the fact that she remembered something he’d said two days ago and planned their evening in advance so they’d get to see some of the city’s attractions like he wanted to made the love he felt for her overflow.

“I love you,” he sighed, shaking his head and wondering how the hell he’d gotten so lucky.

“I love you too,” she beamed back in response.

 

* * *

 

The sun was beginning to set by the time they left the Hard Rock Café where they’d eaten dinner, the lights from the various bars and restaurants lining the street giving the air a neon glow.

“Okay,” Stiles began as they spilled out of the door into the warm evening air. “So I know you were saying not to eat burgers for every meal, but two out of three isn’t that bad, right?” He slipped his hand into Lydia’s as they started to meander down the street.

“I think I’ll let you off considering I’ve eaten nothing but junk today too,” she replied, taking in the passing cars and groups of people shuffling along the sidewalk. “So where do you want to go now?”

“I don’t know,” Stiles answered. While they were inside, he’d Googled the history of the area and all of the places here. The area was mostly famous for its music history, so the street was mostly bars, which unless they were 18 and up bars they wouldn’t be able to get into. He made a mental note to check if any of them were.

“How about we walk down to the river?” Lydia suggested.

“Sounds good,” he replied, and the two of them walked hand in hand down to the riverside.

Once they got there, they walked to the lookout point. Lydia stopped to take pictures ad Stiles wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head as she photographed the sun setting over the river and bridge. Once she’d put her phone away, she leaned into him, and they stayed there for a while just silently looking out over the river.

“It’s nice here,” sighed Lydia, closing her eyes as she focused on the feel of his body against hers.

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, kissing her hair. Lydia pulled his arms tighter around her, feeling completely at peace.

A while later when they finally decided to move again and walk back up the main street, Lydia reached into her purse and handed Stiles his camera.

“Why are you giving this to me now?” he asked, taking the camera.

“So you can film, idiot,” she replied, laughing slightly. “This is one of the nicest places we’ve been.”

“Oh, right,” he clumsily responded, turning on the camera and securing it in his hand. Lydia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry,” she said, slipping her hand into his. “I’ll make sure you don’t walk into any traffic.” And after he’d shot some quick footage of the river’s edge, they were back off towards the hum of music and pulsing neon lights.

 

* * *

 

The midnight blue sky created a quiet and calming atmosphere in the car, the low hum of the music only adding to it. Lydia was looking out at the stars, their brightness and clarity almost hypnotising as they moved under them. There was a comfortable, content silence aside from the music, and Lydia was using it to reflect on the time they’d had in Memphis. It had been one of the best moments of the trip so far. After having dinner and walking down to the river’s edge as the sun was setting, they’d wandered back up the main street, taking in the vibrant sights. They’d even sat and had a coke in one of the 18 and up clubs where live music was playing.

“Hey Lyds,” said Stiles softly, breaking the silence and bringing Lydia out of her own thoughts.

“Yeah,” she replied, shifting in her seat so she was angled towards him and not the window.

“I think you should call your mom now,” he said, turning to look at her.

“Not when we get to the room?” she said, her voice quiet and curious.

“I think now would be better,” he answered, looking her directly in the eye. The combination of tenderness and lust reflected in them made her heart skip, and subtle warmth started to spread across her chest once she realised why he was suggesting it.

“Okay,” she agreed, biting her lip as anticipation surged through her. She looked at the navigation system. They weren’t that far off their motel.

“And then could you take my phone and call my dad,” he asked.

“Sure,” she agreed, leaning forwards to grab her purse.

Lydia called her mother and checked in, and then held the phone for Stiles as he checked in with his dad. They reached the motel not long after, collecting their keys from reception and walking to their room.

Lydia unlocked the door, Stiles following behind her as they walked in. She switched on the light, taking a second to study the room before the sound of Stiles dropping his bag on the floor drew her attention. The urgency of him just slinging the bag down anywhere rather than putting it somewhere convenient sent a rush of heat through her body. She knew how this moment was going to go.

 She quickly looked around the room for a side table to set her purse down on and didn’t find one.  Stiles turned around so that he was standing in front of her, and Lydia quickly dropped her bags on the floor by the door, closing the space between them and wrapping her arms around his neck as he captured her lips with his.

 

* * *

 

Lydia tilted her head back into the hot spray of the shower as Stiles ran his hands through her hair, rinsing out the bubbles of shampoo. The heat of the water felt incredible as it covered her body, driving out all the tension in her muscles, and the feeling of his hands in her hair made her sigh with contentment. She felt completely relaxed. It was a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

After Stiles was finished washing the shampoo out of her hair, she stepped closer so they were standing chest to chest, resting her head on his shoulder as the hot jets of water poured onto them.

“Today’s been great,” said Stiles, his arms circling her waist. She moved her hands so they were resting on his shoulder blades.

“Yeah,” Lydia replied, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of his skin against hers under the hot water. “It has.”

“It feels strange to think we’ll be in Virginia tomorrow,” he continued, guiding the both of them so they were better positioned under the shower head.

“It doesn’t feel like we’re as close as we are,” she said, feeling his chest move as he let out a quiet laugh.

“In not even two days time I’m going to be in my college dorm room,” he stated, clearly considering how fast time had gone. It only felt like yesterday that they were still in Beacon Hills, and now they were almost at their destination. Lydia pulled away from where she rested against Stiles, looking up at him.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling as she took in the wet hair that was in his eyes and the way his gaze softened as it fell on her face. He returned her smile.

“I’m really glad you offered to drive me up here,” he said tenderly, lifting one hand to cup the side of her face. She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch.

“Me too,” she sighed, pulling him closer before leaning in to kiss him.


	5. Chapter 5

Lydia blinked as her vision blurred into focus, rolling onto her back as the full strength of her senses came to her. She could tell that the air conditioning was on as the chill brushed her cheek, the thin sheets wrapped around her body also letting her feel its effects. Immediately her eyes found Stiles, who was lying on his back with his arms folded behind his head.

“Hey, you’re up,” he said as soon as he’d noticed her moving, turning on his side to face her.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, returning the warm smile he was giving her. His eyes caught her attention. Their deep brown colour and the look of tenderness they had as they fell on her kept her gaze fixed on them. She liked how she could see exactly how much he loved her through his eyes alone.

“Come here,” he said softly, extending his arm out and motioning for her to come and lie against him. She did, shuffling over to the middle of the bed where his arm lay, and then slipping it under her head and rolling onto her side with her back to him. He curled around her, his chest pressed against her back. Lydia sighed with content as Stiles got comfortable, wrapping his other arm around her waist and resting his head against her shoulder blade.

“What’s the time?” asked Lydia dreamily after they’d been lying there for a while, like she was halfway asleep again.

“I don’t know,” mumbled Stiles in response.

“Could you check?” she asked, which resulted in him letting out a quiet groan.

“But that means getting my phone,” he told her, his voice low and lazy, like he was also falling asleep again. “Which means moving, and right now I really don’t want to do that.” Lydia understood the lack of appeal. The warmth of his skin against hers and the feeling of his arms around her instilled a sense of blissful calm, and she wanted to hold onto it, but she also had no idea how many spare minutes they had to waste like this.

“Well if we don’t know what the time is then we don’t know how long we have to stay like this,” she highlighted, feeling Stiles move the muscles in his cheek against her shoulder as he considered her words.

“Good point,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her back before sitting up, pulling his arm out from underneath her as he leaned over to grab his phone from the nightstand.

“It’s just after eight,” he informed Lydia, who rolled onto her back in the middle of the bed so she was looking at him.

“So we should probably aim to be out of here by ten,” she suggested, her eyes roving up from his chest to his face. “We’re driving through Nashville and should probably try and avoid rush hour traffic.” Stiles pressed his lips together in consideration.

“So that gives us two hours,” stated Lydia, shooting him a heated look as her eyes moved from the space between them back to his face. He gave her a knowing smile.

“Sounds good to me,” he replied, slipping back down onto his side as she pulled his body against hers.

 

* * *

 

“Let’s get a good look at Nashville, Tennessee’s state capital,” Stiles narrated in a rather sarcastic tone as they moved down the interstate. He had the camera pointed out of the passenger’s side window. “Or more accurately, let’s get a look at this big ass truck that’s been alongside us for the past five minutes.” Lydia let out a quiet exasperated sigh.

“Or alternatively we can get a good shot of the back end of buildings out of your window,” Stiles continued, now pointing the camera at her. “Although I don’t think the camera could take that much excitement.”

“Or you could just put that away and eat the M&M’s you opened and left balancing against your leg before you knock the bag over and spill them,” Lydia told him, sounding almost bored.

“Shit, I forgot about those,” he exclaimed, his body jerking as he looked down at the bag causing them to almost spill. He grabbed the bag before they could, picking some out and putting them in his mouth.

 “You want some?” he asked Lydia after he’d eaten his mouthful and put the camera away.

“Sure,” she said, opening her mouth for him to put the M&M’s in.

“Can you check if there’s any construction along the interstate?” Lydia asked Stiles as they came around a corner after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah,” he replied, pulling his phone out of his pocket to search.

“No construction,” he announced after a minute. “Although you’ll be glad we missed rush hour, according to these discussion posts we could have been sat here for hours.” Lydia felt a light wave of relief wash over her. This section of the interstate was already busy enough that she wanted to get out of Nashville as soon as possible, she didn’t even want to picture being stuck there for hours. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Stiles moving around. She quickly turned to look at him, narrowing her eyes.

“What are you doing?” she asked suspiciously, watching him jerk like someone had thrown something at him and then catch something she didn’t see. He sheepishly turned to look at her.

“I totally wasn’t trying to balance an M&M on my nose,” he said slowly, his tone making it obvious that that was in fact what he was doing. Lydia rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to close them in bafflement.

“You seriously need to find better ways of amusing yourself,” she sighed, shaking her head as she looked back out at the road.

 

* * *

 

Stiles and Lydia both stared out of the windscreen from the space where they’d just parked the car. On one side there was a gas station and on the other there was a Waffle House. They were trying to decide where to use the bathroom.

“So which one do we go to?” Lydia asked Stiles, resting her arms on the steering wheel.

“Waffle House,” he decided. “Seeing it has kinda made me want a waffle.”

Of course it has, Lydia thought to herself. “Sure,” she agreed. They both undid their seatbelts and got out of the car.

Lydia knew that she would take longer in the bathroom, as there was almost always a queue for the women’s bathroom in places like this. By the time she was out, Stiles was at the counter having already ordered.

“Strawberry?” She asked as she stopped beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Of course,” he replied. She always ordered the same waffle whenever they went, so there was no way he’d forget her order. Even if she didn’t, he thought that he’d still remember the things she’d ordered for occasions such as this one. Small details about Lydia Martin were something he had an excellent memory on.

“Thank you,” she said, flashing him a beaming smile. He rested his hand against the small of her back as they waited, moving it away once their order was done.

“Is it strange to think that by this time tomorrow we’ll be unpacking your stuff in your dorm room?” asked Lydia as they sat at their table eating, setting down her knife and fork.

“A little, yeah,” Stiles answered, nodding his head a little as he thought about it. He was still feeling nervous about the move in. Not necessarily the moving in itself, but what the moving in represented. He started bouncing his leg under the table.

“How are you feeling about having a roommate?”

“Okay, I guess,” he replied, looking up from his plate to meet Lydia’s eyes. “I mean there are some things I’m worried about, like if I’m talking to one of you guys about issues of the supernatural variety, but as long as he’s not a total dick I think I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” she said, smiling before placing a forkful of waffle in her mouth. She continued after she’d eaten. “Have you talked to him?”

“We’ve exchanged a few emails,” Stiles told her, cutting a chunk of waffle off. “Discussing move in day and stuff.” He’d been emailing his future roommate Steven since they’d received the details from the university. So far things had been going well.

“So he knows I’m coming?” asked Lydia, her eyes widening.

“Yeah,” Stiles answered.

“It’s nice that they matched you up with someone else on your programme,” added Lydia. They’d found out early on in their emailing that Steven was also on the pre-FBI programme. It made things seem more relaxed between them as they already had a talking point.

“I think that’s why they did it,” Stiles stated, skewering some waffle on his fork. “So that they didn’t have rooms half full because of early start programmes.”

Lydia nodded, considering the practicality with approval, before they both turned back to their food.

 

* * *

 

“What do you want for lunch?” asked Stiles as he steered the car around the slight corner on the interstate. They were approaching Knoxville, the next big city they were driving through, and he knew that they would be stopping there for lunch.

“I don’t know,” Lydia answered, not looking up from her textbook. “What do you want?” Stiles licked his lips as he thought about it.

“I’m feeling a pizza,” he told her, realising that they hadn’t had pizza since before they left. His stomach growled just thinking about it. “Are you cool with that?

“Sure,” she replied, closing her textbook and putting it down by her feet, grabbing her phone from her purse. “I’ll find the nearest pizza place.”

“You’re the best,” he grinned at her, and she quickly started to Google search.

Lydia’s search brought them to a Pizza Hut in a strip mall a little off the interstate. They decided to share one between them, despite the both of them knowing that Stiles could have easily eaten an entire pizza himself. Once it arrived at the table, Lydia took a slice and delicately placed it on the little plate in front of her, while Stiles grabbed a slice and immediately shoved half of it in his mouth.

“I feel like I haven’t pizza in so long,” he said after eating his first slice, moving in for a second. Lydia tilted her head as she looked at him, shooting him a look.

“You say that whenever we have pizza,” she reminded him, finishing her own first slice as she watched him try and keep the sagging slice of pizza from falling apart in his hand.

“Because it’s always too long,” he exclaimed, biting through half of the second slice. Lydia rolled her eyes, laughing at his dramatics as she continued eating.

 

* * *

 

“And we’ve officially reached Virginia,” Stiles stated loudly as the car drove over the border, camera in hand. He’d been ready and waiting for the moment they crossed, even doing a countdown which made Lydia glare at him incredulously. “The last state on the list for our road trip.” Lydia quickly glanced over at him, his enthusiasm making her smile.

“Which means that we’ve driven through eight states over four days.” He highlighted, pointing the camera at the ‘Welcome to Virginia’ sign out of the window. “But it’s not over yet until we reach DC.”

“So let’s take a look at Virginia,” Stiles continued to narrate, panning the camera around the entire front of the car to shoot as much of what they could see out of each window. “So far it’s looking like every state we’ve driven through today and yesterday, which is to say that there are a lot of trees.”

“I wonder if anyone ever goes in the woods off all of these roads,” he wondered aloud, catching Lydia’s attention. “People could be hiding dead bodies out here.”

“Why is that the immediate place your brain goes to?” she asked, quickly turning to squint at him.

“Just used to it, I guess,” he shrugged, looking down at the camera as he switched it off. The fact that that was their reality made Lydia feel unnerved. She shuddered in her seat.

“Well I for one do not like to think about dead bodies when I don’t have to deal with them,” she stated. “College will hopefully be a break from supernatural danger.”

“Hopefully,” replied Stiles, his tone of voice conveying his belief on the expected likeliness of that happening.

They drove for quite a while in silence after that. Lydia kept her eyes on the road and Stiles had his eyes on his phone, scrolling intently through something as the car moved along. After a while he broke the silence.

“Hey, Lyds,” he said, causing her to look over.

“Yeah,” she replied quietly.

“Do you feel like making a detour?” he asked, and Lydia noticed a subtle change in the tone of his voice. It sounded almost mischievous.

“What kind of detour?” she responded, feigning innocence as she knew that this detour would be about one of two things, and she had a good idea which one it was.

“The kind of detour where we take the car somewhere remote,” Stiles explained slowly, licking his lips as their eyes briefly met. “Pull over, and you come and join me in this seat.” Lydia felt her heart start beating faster in her chest as a gentle heat started to pool in the pit of her stomach.

“Hmm,” she mumbled, looking over at him and raising her eyebrows. “Do you know of many remote places off the interstate?”

“Did you think I’d ask if I hadn’t already done a Google search?” he responded, which made her cheeks flush with heat. He already knew they had somewhere to go, of course he did. “Take the exit in a few miles, there’s a truck stop surrounded by trees.”

“Looks like we will be making a detour,” said Lydia, biting her lip in anticipation as she moved them into the outside lane.

 

* * *

 

The sky was a hazy blur of pink and blue as the sun started to set, the dark shadows from the Virginia trees creating an even calmer atmosphere. Lydia took pictures of the landscape through the windscreen, getting just enough of the sky, road and trees for the perfect shots. Her concentration broke when a ringing noise blared from the other side of the car. She recognised it immediately as Stiles’ phone, wordlessly leaning over to grab it out of his front pocket and accept the call.  They both knew it was Scott.

“Hey buddy,” said Stiles as soon as the call was accepted. Lydia held the phone out between them.

“What’s up guys,” Scott replied.

“We’ve just had dinner and now we’re on our way to our hotel for the night,” Stiles told him, turning the music down. They’d gone through his entire playlist twice now and had settled on just using Lydia’s in car music app, arguing over which songs to skip. “You called later than I expected.”

“Dude, it’s like not even four here,” Scott reminded him. Stiles blinked as he suddenly remembered that they were now on the other side of the country.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I forgot about the time difference.” A second passed where no one spoke.

“So how are you guys?” asked Scott.

“We’re good,” Stiles replied.

“Feeling nervous about tomorrow?”

“A little,” he answered, feeling a small sense of comfort that Scott knew he’d be anxious and wanted to check on him. From the passenger’s seat, Lydia was smiling at him.

“It’ll be fine,” said Scott firmly, reassuring him. He knew it would be, but the niggling sense of uneasiness that arose whenever he thought about it could be very distracting. Having Scott remind him was grounding. “What about you Lydia?”

“I’m good,” she answered cheerily. “He hasn’t been bugging me so much today.”

“Let’s hope it keeps up,” teased Scott. “Hey, has Malia told you about Peter?”

“Yeah,” answered Stiles. “She’s been texting me for suggestions on how to get out of father daughter bonding time. I told her to fake her own kidnapping.” Lydia rolled her eyes.

“I told her that she clearly has some unresolved issues with him that they should work through,” she added. This text conversation had happened two hours ago before they’d stopped to use the bathroom in Wytheville. She had no idea when Malia had started texting Stiles about it too.

“And this is why she turned to me,” Stiles replied. Scott laughed.

“We’re doing something with Liam, Hayden and Mason tonight so she doesn’t have to,” he told them.

“Sounds fun,” Stiles responded.

“It’ll be weird without you guys there,” said Scott, a more solemn tone to his voice. Stiles and Lydia had both remarked on feeling the loss of their friends during their journey. They loved having the time to themselves, but not having the others around was a strange feeling.

“It’ll be weird knowing you guys are having fun without us,” Stiles added.

“I’m sure you guys are having enough fun without us,” Scott replied, sounding more upbeat, his tone playfully teasing.

“That’s different,” said Stiles loudly, smiling at the previous comment.

“I know,” laughed Scott. There was a moment of silence.

 “I’m gonna go,” announced Scott, sounding almost regretful. “Call me tomorrow once you’re settled in.”

“Will do,” Stiles replied, feeling the familiar dull ache as he realised that the short time he had talking to his best friend was about to come to an end.

“Bye guys,” said Scott.

“Bye Scott,” They replied in unison.

“Wow,” said Lydia after the line had gone dead. “You two actually managed to have a conversation without telling each other how much you miss each other.” Stiles smiled, reflecting on the conversation they’d just had with Scott.

“The ‘miss you’ was implied,” he said, turning the music back up as they drove further towards the sunset.

 

* * *

 

Lydia slipped the key into the door of their hotel room, waiting for the door to click open before withdrawing the key card and walking inside. This was the biggest and nicest room they’d stayed in so far, on account of it being in an actual hotel and not a motel. It was something she’d suggested, that on their last night on the road, they’d stay in a hotel. Stiles had agreed. He was clearly enjoying the room too, as by the time she’d walked through and put her things down on one of the surfaces, he was already laying on the bed, stretched out on his back.

“See how much nicer staying in an actual hotel is,” she said, taking a picture of him lounging across the bed.

“Yeah, but motels have a more authentic road trip feeling,” he argued, lifting one arm up and resting it under his head as he kicked off his shoes. “And you’ve gotta get that authenticity, Lyds.”

She let him have his point, sitting down on one of the chairs and connecting to the room’s wifi to upload today’s pictures to her Instagram page. She now had quite the collection of road trip pictures on there.

They called their parents to let them know they’d checked in for the night, ending up sat side by side against the headboard of the bed flicking through the cable channels on the tv. Lydia had mentioned that it was too early to get ready for bed since it wasn’t even ten yet, so they decided to try and find something to watch, despite the fact they both knew they wouldn’t end up watching it.

 “Are you okay?” asked Lydia tentatively, watching Stiles flick through the channels. “You seem a little tense.” She’d noticed that he was drumming his fingers repeatedly against his leg as they were sat there, and that he was more upright and less relaxed than she would have expected.

“It’s just nerves about tomorrow,” he answered dismissively, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You can talk to me if you want to,” she told him softly, looking him in the eye. He gave her a thin smile.

“I guess it’s just hitting me that once we get there tomorrow you’re going to be leaving me there,” he confessed, tapping the remote against his leg. He knew that Lydia was no stranger to his anxious episodes, but he was so used to just dealing with them or talking to Scott about them that something about talking to her felt unusual. Not in a bad way, just unfamiliar. “It’s such a huge change, and I’m excited about it, but there’s this uncomfortable feeling too, this fear. Like what if something happens to you or Scott or my dad and I can’t get there to help.”

“Hey,” said Lydia gently, placing her hand on his leg and sitting up to look at him. “Nothing is going to happen to any of us.” He met her eyes, smiling as she squeezed his leg. “It’s going to be okay, we’re going to be okay.”

“I know, it’s just,” he sighed, dragging his hand over his face. “I get like this sometimes. I have since I was a kid.” Sometimes Stiles didn’t even know where the thoughts came from, it was as if his brain plucked one of his worst fears out of his unconscious and dragged it into his conscious thoughts just to stress him out. Lydia gave him a warm smile.

“I know,” she said softly, her smile growing as a memory came into focus. “Remember, I stopped you having a panic attack in the locker room.”

“How could I ever forget that?” he laughed, now smiling as much as she was.

She looked at him, smiling so wide that it was hurting her face as she took in the love radiating from his eyes. He was staring at her like he couldn’t believe she was there, like he was about to slap himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. It made her heart burst knowing that she’d made him feel a little better.

“Now,” she said breathily, drawing out the word. “How about we go and take a nice long shower? Distract you a little.” Stiles pursed his lips.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he told her, and she grinned at him before they both climbed off the bed and headed for the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

Stiles closed his eyes as he settled against the pillow, stretching his legs out across the bed as he got comfortable. His muscles finally felt relaxed, and he sighed at the small sense of calm he felt.

“Are you feeling better?” asked Lydia softly from beside him, hair spilling over her bare shoulders where she lay on her side. “Or are you going to be up tossing and turning all night.”

“Definitely feeling better,” he told her, although he still had no idea how well he’d sleep tonight. “And even if I do toss and turn all night there’s enough room that I shouldn’t bother you.”

“Everything will be fine,” she reassured him, inching closer. He lifted his arm up so she could settle against his shoulder, enjoying the warmth of her skin against his. “And even though leaving you there is going to make my heart ache and I’m going to miss you so much, I know we’ll see each other again as soon as possible.”

Her words tugged painfully at his heart. He could see in her wide, shining eyes that she was dreading leaving him as much as he was dreading leaving her, could hear it in her voice how much she loved him. Being able to see that was a comfort in all of the chaos.

“I’ll try and come up and visit as soon as I can,” he said, sighing as she wrapped her arm around his bare torso, pulling herself tighter against him.

“Yeah,” she breathed. “And it’s not like I’m leaving you there tomorrow.” She affectionately brushed her fingers along his side. “I’m going on Monday so you’ve got me for the whole weekend.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly, enjoying having his every sense invaded by her. A moment of comfortable silence passed between them.

“I love you,” Lydia sighed, closing her eyes as pure contentment washed over her.

“I love you too,” whispered Stiles in response, kissing the top of her head before they slowly started to drift off to sleep.

 


	6. Chapter 6

The bed was empty when Lydia woke up. She stretched her arm out as she blinked herself awake, expecting for her hand to meet warm skin, but instead she found empty sheets. She sat up, pushing her hair out of her eyes and pulling the sheets up over her chest.

“Stiles?” she said loudly, her eyes roaming around the room.

“In the bathroom,” his voice called from behind the closed door. Lydia let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“Ok,” she replied. The relief was short lived, however, as a series of bangs followed by a loud clattering sound and hissed cursing came from the other side of the bathroom door. Lydia closed her eyes.

“What did you do?” she shouted, sighing in exasperation as she wondered how one person could be so clumsy.

“I may have knocked over a few things,” Stiles answered tentatively, drawing out the ‘may’. Lydia pinched the bridge of her nose. It was too soon after she’d woken up to be dealing with this.

“Is anything broken?”

“No,” he replied, finally opening the bathroom door and stepping out into the main room. “I just spilled a little shampoo on the floor, but I’ve cleaned it up.”

“Good,” said Lydia. Stiles moved over to the bed and sat down beside her. She could smell the shampoo he’d knocked over on him as he leaned in and kissed her lips. He tasted like mint, meaning that he’d just brushed his teeth.

“What time is it?” asked Lydia, realising that she hadn’t checked yet. Stiles grabbed his phone off the nightstand and checked.

“Seven thirty,” he told her. Lydia was surprised. It was the first time during the whole trip that they’d been up before eight am. Although they had arrived at the hotel earlier last night than previous nights, and they’d fallen asleep before midnight.

“What time does your move in start, again?” she asked. The drive to DC was two hours from the hotel, and she knew that he wanted to get there early and get everything done before his roommate arrived in the afternoon.

“They said from ten onwards,” he answered, drumming his fingers against his leg. Lydia nodded. She could tell that he’d been up early. He’d left her clothes from last night out on one of the chairs and all of his things were packed up, plus he was already fully dressed. If his move in day was open from ten onwards, that would mean they would need to eat breakfast pretty soon and then leave right after. At least the room was already cleaned up.

“I’ll get up and ready then,” she told him, smiling as he inched off the bed to let her get out.

 

* * *

 

The building was tall. Red brick and four stories high with identical windows in perfect columns adorning the front. There weren’t that many people around, a few people coming in and out of the doors at the centre of the ground floor of the building. Stiles glanced over at Lydia in the driver’s seat, tapping his leg against the floor of the car.

“Well,” he said, inhaling deeply and shooting her a smile, his heart beating faster in his chest. “Here we are.” She returned his smile, although hers felt warmer.

“Have you got all of your details?” she asked him, the soft warmth of her smile replaced with firmness. He nodded.

“Yup,” he said, leaning back to grab his bag from the back seat, unzipping it and then pulling something out. “In this folder.” Lydia smiled in approval, glad that he’d been organised.

“Good,” she said. A heavy moment of silence passed. Stiles found himself drumming his fingers against his bag with no idea when he’d started doing it.

“So how are we going to do this?” he asked loudly, waving his arm as he turned to face Lydia. “Relays?” She pursed her lips in consideration.

“Sure,” she agreed. They finally undid their seatbelts.

“I’ll do the first one,” Stiles offered as they both got out and walked to the trunk of the car, craning his neck over the roof as he talked so it didn’t seem like he was talking to himself as they shuffled down opposite sides of the car. “Take a suitcase up with me when I find my room, and then I’ll come back down and tell you where to go.”

“Okay,” said Lydia as they met at the trunk of the car. She opened the trunk, handing him boxes to put on the ground so she could retrieve one of the suitcases. Once she’d freed the case from her car, she stood it up in front of Stiles, who grabbed the handle.

“Be right back,” he said almost nervously, before walking away with his bag over his shoulder and the suitcase trailing behind him.

They took turns carrying his things upstairs to the dorm room, one taking some bags or a suitcase and the other staying with the car. It took them five trips each before everything was up there, and they both sighed with relief when they closed the door to the room behind them. Stiles shot a little bit of footage with the camera, touring the room and signalling the end of the journey, and then they both stood in the centre of the room staring at the boxes and bags now piled on the floor.

“It’s nice,” said Lydia as she looked around the room, placing her hands on her hips.

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, folding his arms across his chest and touching his chin. “I was kind of expecting it to be smaller.” The room was long and narrow, with a wide window in the middle of the two beds. Width wise, it was about half of the size of his room back home, but length wise it was just a little longer. There was an area about the size of a small closet once you first entered the door with the bathroom directly opposite, and then the entrance to the main part of the room was on the left.

“Well, there will be two of you living in here,” Lydia replied, glancing over at the empty bed on the other side of the room. “What time is your roommate getting here again?”

“He said two,” answered Stiles, recalling the email he’d received yesterday that he’d checked on his phone. “His parents are driving him in from Pittsburgh.”

“Okay,” said Lydia, nodding. “So we have three hours to unpack your stuff before he gets here.” She wandered over to the bags, tapping one of them with her foot. “What do you want to start with? Clothes?”

“I think we should start with the bed,” he answered, raising his eyebrows as he surveyed the bare single bed against the wall.

“Ok,” she said, leaning over the bags. “Which bag are your sheets in?” Stiles laughed.

“That’s not what I meant,” he told her, shooting her a suggestive smile.

“Oh, I see,” she replied slowly, tilting her head as she met his eyes. “Well, your roommate won’t be here for another three hours.” She slowly walked over towards him, her eyes moving over his body as she stopped beside him. “So we might as well see if the bed is more comfortable than it looks.”

“My thoughts exactly,” he grinned. She bit her lip before he closed the space between them, crashing his lips to hers as they moved back onto the bed.

 

* * *

 

Stiles shoved the last of the empty cardboard boxes under the bed, backing out slowly to avoid hitting his head on the underside of the bed frame before standing up and studying the side of the room he had claimed as his. He dusted his hands off on his flannel shirt, folding his arms over his chest.

“And we’re done,” he said with a satisfied smile. Lydia looked up from where she was sat on the bed smoothing down her side braid.

“Yeah,” she added, nodding as she looked at the product of their last few hours’ work. “It looks good.” Their decoration had been minimal, but there were a few personal touches on the wall and desk. The bed was now made, and all of his clothes were in his dresser and one side of the closet. There was a laundry bag and boxes of kitchen supplies between the dresser and the bed, and his stationary was in one of the desk drawers.

“I’m starving,” stated Stiles, his stomach growling as he met Lydia’s eyes.

“Yeah, me too,” she replied, grabbing her purse from where it sat at the end of the bed. “We should go and find somewhere to eat.”

“What time is it?” he asked, glancing over at his laptop sat on the desk. It had to be at least past noon.

“One twenty five,” she informed him, checking her phone before putting it down in her purse. Stiles spun around to face her.

“Really?” he asked disbelievingly, narrowing his eyes and extending his arm out. “How did it take us that long?” Lydia pressed her lips together.

“The little break we took halfway through might have had something to do with it,” she said, watching a small smile form on his face as he obviously started to think about it.

“Oh yeah,” he said, still smiling. “So lunch?”

“Yes,” she agreed, rising from the bed and slinging her purse over her shoulder. Lydia started to head for the door, stopping when she realised that Stiles wasn’t following, instead he was rooting around in his desk drawer.

“I’m just gonna leave a note,” he explained, pulling something out and placing it on the desk. “In case he gets here before we get back.” She watched him write the note and then drop it on the empty bed, before making his way over to her.

“You got your key?” She asked him, shooting him a serious look. His eyes went wide before he pressed his lips together in contemplation, screwing up his face as he searched his pockets.

“Yes,” he said, producing the key from his back pocket after giving himself a frantic pat down. Lydia let out a small sigh of relief before moving towards the door, Stiles following her. “Jesus, Lyds. Don’t make me panic like that.”

 

* * *

 

After lunch, Stiles and Lydia made their way back to his room. They opened the door and walked in, finding someone else stood in the centre of the room between the two beds. He was tall, a few inches taller than Stiles, with mousy blond hair and a black t shirt on. Once he heard them come in, he turned around, taking them in with a smile.

“Hey,” said Stiles loudly, flashing him a wide smile as he moved further into the room, Lydia standing behind him.

“Hey,” the person replied, pulling one of his hands free from his front pockets. “You literally just missed my parents. They had to leave early so I’m setting up by myself.” Stiles looked over at the empty bed, which was piled high with boxes and suitcases.

“Do you need a hand with that?” he offered, gesturing to the pile.

“No,” the other person replied, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine.”

“So you’re Steven,” said Stiles, awkwardly extending his arm to shake his hand. Steven nodded.

“Yup,” he replied, squinting at Stiles as he shook his hand. “And you’re…”

“Like I said in the email, just call me Stiles,” Stiles interjected, saving his new roommate the trouble of trying to pronounce his real name.

“Got it,” nodded Steven, turning his attention to Lydia. “This your girlfriend?”

“Yeah,” Stiles answered, smiling.

“Lydia,” she introduced herself, flashing Steven a winning smile as she waved at him from beside Stiles.

“Hey,” said Steven as he waved back, shoving his hands in his pockets afterwards.

“She’s gonna be here until Monday morning and then she’s going up to Boston,” Stiles informed Steven, moving his arm to the side as he talked.

“I’m doing some summer lab work before my semester starts,” added Lydia. She was doing three weeks in the MIT labs discussing some of her own theory before going back to Beacon Hills for the remainder of the summer, heading back to Boston again at the end of August. Steven raised his eyebrows, nodding as he listened.

“She’s a junior at MIT,” stated Stiles, still smiling as he glanced over at Lydia.

“Oh, so are you a little older?” asked Steven. Lydia shook her head.

“No,” she told him. “We’ve both just graduated high school,” she explained, folding her arms over her chest. “I’m starting as a junior.” Steven blinked at her.

“How?” he asked, looking clearly puzzled.

“She’s a genius,” said Stiles proudly. Lydia smiled at him.

“Oh, right,” Steven replied, giving Lydia an impressed look.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help setting up?” Stiles asked again, looking once more at the pile of boxes all over Steven’s bed.

“I’ll see how it goes,” Steven replied, turning around to make a start.

Eventually Stiles did end up helping him. The two of them worked side by side as Lydia sat on Stiles’ bed, all three of them engaging in introductory conversations.

“So how’d you guys meet?” asked Steven as both he and Stiles stood on the bed putting up Steven’s posters.

“School,” Stiles answered, biting his lip as he pressed the corner of the poster he was holding into the adhesive tack.

“Oh right,” Steven replied, nodding his head as he finished sticking up his poster. “So you’re one of those couples who were together all through high school?”

“No,” Stiles laughed, shaking his head. “Its way more complicated than that.”

“We haven’t actually been together that long,” Lydia chimed in from the other bed.

“We’ve been in the same class since we were like eight,” Stiles continued to explain their history. “But we only got to know each other a couple of years ago.”

“Ok,” said Steven, raising his eyebrows. “So how did you guys get together?” Stiles laughed again.

“To put a very long story short,” he said, glancing down at Lydia who was also fighting to contain a giggle. It felt strange being around someone who had no idea about the supernatural, about everything they’d been through. “Her best friend stated dating my best friend, and we got to know each other from there.”

“What about you, Steven,” asked Lydia straightening the hem of her skirt. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“No,” he replied, bending down to grab the next poster from off the mattress. “I haven’t dated in a long while.”

“Okay,” said Lydia.

“Any reason?” asked Stiles.

“Just didn’t want to,” Steven shrugged, placing the poster against the wall to find space for it. “I put most of my time into academics.”

“Ah,” Stiles responded. “So you’re dedicated.”

“Oh yeah,” replied Steven enthusiastically. “Why do you think I applied for the programme?”

“It’s nice that you guys are on the same programme and sharing a room,” stated Lydia, closing the textbook she had sat in her lap and placing it down on the bed.

“Yeah,” said Steven in response, finishing tacking up his poster before sitting down on the bed, Stiles following behind him. “It was a deliberate move by the university. Everyone staying in this building is either on an early start programme or staying here for the summer.” Steven threw one of the empty cardboard boxes on the floor, watching it bounce across the carpet before settling near the other bed. He turned to face Stiles. “Hopefully this means that they won’t move us when the fall semester starts.”

Once the room was done they continued to talk, discussing their personal histories and different aspects of life as roommates. They were currently on the topic of morning routines, trying to work out who was going to disturb and disrupt who the most. Stiles asked Steven about morning alarms.

“I use my cell phone,” Steven answered, patting the raised rectangle where it sat in his front pocket. “I wake up early to run so I have it on vibrate.”

“Oh right,” Stiles replied, drumming his fingers on his leg as he nodded.

“Well,” said Lydia, gaining both of their attentions. She looked towards Steven. “Between your early mornings and his insomniac tendencies, it sounds like you two are going to have great fun.”

 

* * *

 

“You know,” said Stiles slowly, turning to look at Lydia as they stood in front of her parked car. “When you said that you had something planned involving the car, this isn’t what I thought you meant.”

“I told you that you were helping me clean it out,” she responded, thrusting the hand held vacuum at him. “At least half of it is your mess.” She had mentioned that as soon as they arrived in DC they would be cleaning her car out, especially considering they'd been using plastic bags to keep their trash in on the road. She had decided that now was the time to do it. He took the vacuum from her, holding it up and studying the shape of it.

“So how are we doing this?” he asked, waving the vacuum in the air alongside her as she unlocked the car. “We only have one vacuum.” She turned to face him, pulling an empty plastic grocery bag out from her purse.

“You’re vacuuming the passenger’s side floor,” she explained, opening the car door and dropping her purse down on the seat. “I’m going to pick up any trash and put it in this bag.” Stiles nodded in agreement before moving around to the other side of the car.

It took them almost half an hour to clean the car. Stiles was surprised by the amount of candy on the floor under the passenger’s seat, and judging by the look on Lydia’s face when he emptied the vacuum out into the plastic bag, she wasn’t. Lydia was however surprised by the amount of trash she picked up. Empty candy boxes and water bottles, used napkins, paper and foil wrappers that had fallen between the seats. She didn’t realise just how much mess four days of travelling could accumulate. After the car was sufficiently clean, they threw the trash away and headed back to the room, where Stiles decided that it was time to call Scott.

“Hey buddy,” he said down the line as Scott picked up, putting him on speaker.

“Hey,” Scott replied cheerfully. “How’s the dorm?”

“It’s nice,” said Stiles, pacing around with the phone in his hand. “Bigger than I expected. I’ll send you some pictures soon.” He glanced at Lydia who was once again lounging on the bed.

“Is your roommate there yet?” asked Scott. Stiles nodded as if Scott could see him.

“Yeah,” he said, wandering over near Steven’s side of the room and peering down at the note left on the desk. “He’s gone out for a walk so it’s just me and Lydia right now.” With the hand that wasn’t holding the phone, Stiles scratched the back of his neck. “We’ve just cleaned out the car.”

“How much mess did he make?” said Scott, clearly aiming his question at Lydia. She quietly laughed.

“Not as much as I expected him to,” she answered, enjoying the open mouthed look of mild offence that Stiles was giving the phone. “But still a good amount.”

“Why are you assuming I’m the messy one?” Stiles argued loudly, waving his free arm around. “She could have made some of the mess.”

“Because I know both of you,” Scott replied. Stiles frowned at the phone.

“In his defence, Scott,” called Lydia from the bed, rolling her eyes at Stiles. “Some of the mess was mine.”

“Yeah,” Stiles added enthusiastically. “The lipstick all over the seat wasn’t mine.”

“Umm,” said Scott tentatively, his tone revealing that he was most likely cringing slightly. “Should I even ask?”

“He braked, I dropped,” Lydia explained bluntly, recalling the event yesterday evening when someone had pulled out in front of them at the last minute. “It rolled down between the seat and the gearstick.”

“Nice,” said Scott sarcastically.

“Ruined one of my best lipsticks too,” complained Lydia, picturing the crushed, hair and dust coated stick that she had retrieved. She looked up at Stiles, meeting his eyes. “I’ll have to look for more when we go out tomorrow.”

“Well at least your car is clean now,” Scott stated, bringing her back to the positive.

“True,” she agreed, pausing before shooting Stiles a mischievous smile. “And he’s staying here so it won’t get messy on the way to Boston.” He raised his eyebrows at her.

“Well I’ve got to go,” announced Scott, interrupting their exchange of playful looks. “I’m on my break.”

“Cool,” said Stiles, turning his attention back towards the phone. “I’ll video call you later so you can see the room. Just text me when you get off work.”

“Sure,” Scott replied. “Have a good weekend guys.”

“We will,” Stiles responded.

“I look forward to seeing the dorm,” Scott added finally. Stiles pressed his lips together as the familiar ache of knowing Scott was about to go filled his chest.

“Speak to you later Scotty,” he said, thinly smiling against the weight of missing his best friend, whom he was now going to be a thousand miles apart from for months.

“Bye man,” said Scott, his voice briefly wavering before he paused. “Bye Lydia.” She smiled, missing Scott too.

“Bye.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” said Steven, turning around from where he was facing the closet at the far end of the room. “So there’s a party going on in one of the lounges to welcome the new arrivals.” Stiles and Lydia looked up from their phones at the same time. Lydia was sat against the headboard and Stiles was sat with his back to the wall, her legs draped across his lap. “You guys wanna come?”

“Eh, parties aren’t really my thing,” he told Steven dismissively, glancing at Lydia. “I think we’re gonna stay here.”

“They aren’t really mine either,” shrugged Steven, running a hand through his mousy hair. “But I figured since it’s the first night then why not? But don’t worry, I get it.” He smirked at Stiles. “So if it’s boring then I’ll probably be like an hour, tops,” he explained as he slipped his shoes on, sitting on his bed to tie up his laces. “If it gets interesting then I’ll be out longer.”

“Ok,” said Stiles. Steven got up and straightened out his shirt, heading for the door.

“I’ll text you a heads up when I’m on my way back,” he said as he opened the door to the room’s main entrance

“Good plan,” Stiles replied enthusiastically, giving Steven a thumbs up. “Now go have some fun.”

“I’ll try,” he said with a smile. “See you guys later.”

“Later Steven,” Stiles called as he left the room.

Once the sound of the door closing echoed through the room, Stiles put his phone in his front pocket, turning his attention to Lydia. “I like him already.”

“Yeah, he’s nice,” she agreed, mirroring the smile Stiles was giving her as she set her phone down on the desk beside the bed. She looked back at him, meeting his eyes before moving her gaze down his body, her bottom lip trapped under her teeth. “Now are you going to come over here or not?”

It didn’t take him two seconds. She giggled as he moved from where he was sat, guiding her legs apart before settling between them. Her lips found his as she wrapped herself around him, adjusting under his weight as everything but him disappeared from her thoughts.

 

* * *

 

“See,” exclaimed Lydia, pointing to the screen of the laptop balanced on her sheet covered lap. “I told you I was right.”

“I can’t believe I dropped that many,” Stiles responded, staring at the screen over Lydia’s shoulder in mild disbelief. It was just after eleven and they were sat in bed in their pyjamas watching the video camera footage, Stiles with his back against the headboard and Lydia between his legs with the laptop on her lap over the sheets. The wood of the headboard was uncomfortable, even through the pillow, but the feeling of Lydia’s weight against his chest made up for it. They had just watched the footage from back in New Mexico where Stiles filmed himself trying to catch candy in his mouth.

“I can,” said Lydia, the tone of her voice the vocal equivalent of an eye roll.

They hadn’t decided to watch the footage purely to settle who was right, but that had been an advantage. Stiles had suggested it after they’d taken advantage of having the room to themselves, remembering that he hadn’t uploaded the footage yet. So they sat on the bed in their pj’s, Lydia wearing one of his shirts and a pair of his pyjama pants that were so adorably long on her that she had to roll them up at the waist, uploading and then watching it.

“So what are you going to do with the footage?” asked Lydia over the next section of footage, which happened to be her filming them crossing the border into Texas.

“I’m going put it all together into one video and save it on a flash drive,” Stiles explained, temporarily releasing his grip on her forearm. She leaned sideways and turned to look at him. “I’ll probably send the file to Scott and my dad so they can watch it, and anyone else who wants to.”

“That’s nice,” she said softly, smiling at him before settling back into position with her back against his chest and her head on his shoulder.

“I wonder if we could count it as memories of our first vacation?” Stiles wondered aloud, tilting his head towards Lydia’s and nudging her with his chin.

“I don’t know,” she replied, leaning back into his shoulder. “I’m not sure spending four days in a car with you counts as a vacation.”

“Well then it’s our first trip together,” he suggested as an alternative, glimpsing at the footage on screen of the Texas sunset.

“That sounds better,” she said, pulling his arms tighter around her. They went back to watching the footage silently, pausing it when Stiles received a text from Steven. _I’m coming back soon, so all clothes better be on,_ it read. Stiles shook his head, laughing as he set the phone down.

“How was your party?” Stiles asked Steven as he walked through the door and made his way into the main area of the room. He must have enjoyed the party to some degree since he’d been gone for just over two hours.

“It was alright,” he said as he sat down on his bed, taking off his shoes. “I got talking to this guy and this girl who are also on the programme.”

“Nice,” said Stiles, nodding once at Steven.

“I’ll introduce you to them tomorrow,” Steven replied, and Stiles turned his attention back to the video.

“What are you guys watching?” asked Steven, leaning off the edge of his bed to try and peer at the laptop screen.

“Just some video camera footage I shot on the drive up here,” explained Stiles. Steven got of the bed and inched over to them, watching the footage from beside the bed.

“You guys drove all the way from California?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Stiles answered.

“How was that?” asked Steven, inching back towards his bed on the other side of the room.

“It was……interesting,” Lydia answered jokingly, extending her words to make it sound like it was worse than it was. “No it was fine.”

“Went better than I expected actually,” added Stiles with a tone of approval as he looked back on their journey. “We didn’t break down or anything.”

“That’s because we didn’t take your Jeep,” Lydia replied, leaning back and looking at Stiles before turning her attention to Steven. “It’s a wreck.” Steven gave her an understanding nod.

“It was my mom’s,” Stiles explained.

“Oh,” Steven said slowly, nodding. He knew. They’d discussed their parents earlier in the day.

“Well I’m gonna go change in the bathroom,” Steven told them, pointing awkwardly in the direction of the door for the adjoined bathroom.

“Ok,” said Stiles, watching Steven grab his pyjamas from his dresser and then head to the bathroom from over Lydia’s head.

While Steven was in the bathroom, they decided to stop watching the footage for the night and pick it up tomorrow. Stiles shut down his laptop and set it down on the desk between the two beds, adjusting as Lydia moved from sitting between his legs to sitting against the wall, waiting for them to divide the small amount of bed space they had. They were settled comfortably by the time Steven was back in the room.

“So is there anything I need to know about, sleep wise?” asked Steven as he climbed into his bed. “Like, neither of you guys snore, do you?”

“Nope,” answered Stiles. “No snoring. But I do move in my sleep sometimes so if I fall out of bed and wake you up I apologise in advance.” Steven nodded in response, the light from the desk lamp illuminating his face.

“And he talks in his sleep,” added Lydia. Steven’s smile started to morph into a slight wince.

“Yeah,” Stiles confirmed. “And I’ve also been known to sleepwalk.” Stiles moved from where he was leaning on his elbow, settling down on his side facing Steven’s bed. “Also sometimes I get nightmares, but not often.”

“Damn,” said Steven with a half laugh.

“Better get used to that,” said Lydia from behind Stiles.

“Hey,” Stiles exclaimed, rolling over as much as he could to face Lydia, who flashed him a wide smile.

“I don’t mind it that much,” she said, cupping the side of his face before brushing his cheek with her thumb and then kissing him. After that she rolled over and settled down against the pillow, Stiles pulling her against him so her back was pressed firmly against his chest as they tried to sleep.

 

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing Lydia noticed when she woke up was warmth. The heat of another body tangled around hers, the surrounding comfort of the sheets. The second thing she noticed was restriction. She could barely move, barely stretch her legs without encountering a wall or weight against her. The third thing she noticed was dark brown eyes focused intently on her as she shook away the grogginess of sleep. Her favourite thing to wake up to.

“Good morning,” said Stiles as soon as she was fully awake.

“Morning,” Lydia replied slowly. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” he answered, raising his eyebrows in thought. “Think I almost fell out of bed at one point but I didn’t, so,” he continued, a soft amusement to his voice. “You?”

“Definitely less space than I’m used to,” she responded, wriggling where she lay on her side to emphasise her point. “But I slept fine.”

“Good,” he said, smiling before planting a quick kiss on her lips.

“Is Steven not here?” asked Lydia, noting how the room was incredibly quiet aside from their conversation. Stiles glanced over at the other bed. It was empty.

“Must be out on his run,” he said, turning his attention back to Lydia.

“How early is it?” she asked, remembering how Steven said that he woke up early to go for his morning run. If they’d woken up before he’d returned then it must be earlier than she’d expected.

“I don’t know,” Stiles shrugged, too comfortable to move and check.

“How much longer do you think he’ll be gone?”

“I don’t know,” he repeated, this time with a mischievous undertone. Lydia was clearly thinking the same thing he was, because after two seconds she leaned forward and pulled his face towards hers until their lips met. Things quickly escalated, and he moved his hand under her shirt as the kiss deepened, the two of them tangling together in the small space. She was just about to move her hand down the planes of his stomach when the sound of the door unlocking startled them apart, angry flushes of heat spreading over both of them.

“Hey guys,” said Steven nonchalantly as he entered the room, taking a pair of in-ear headphones out. “You’re up.”

“Yeah,” Stiles responded, trying not to sound frustrated. “Did you have a good run?”

“Yeah,” answered Steven, kicking off his shoes. Stiles and Lydia exchanged a glance as Steven moved around the room. “Well I’m going to take a shower now. Do either of you need to use the bathroom first?”

“Nah,” Stiles answered, looking at Lydia. She shook her head. “We’re good.”

“Ok,” Steven mumbled before disappearing from the main room and locking the bathroom door behind him. Stiles waited until he heard the sound of the shower running before turning to Lydia.

“Do we risk it?” he asked quietly, glancing at the door.

“He’s only in the shower,” Lydia replied dismissively, despite the heat pulsing through her body. “There’s no way we’d have enough time.” Stiles raised his eyebrows at her.

“You could always-”

“We don’t know how long he’s going to be,” she interjected, lightly tapping his chest. “He could be in there for like two minutes.” she then brought her mouth up to just below his ear, her lips an inch away from his neck. “And besides, I can always do that later when he’s not in the room, so there would be no one to disturb us.” He groaned.

“Now go and pour some cold water over yourself,” Lydia suggested half jokingly, laughing as she inched away from him.

“But he’s in the bathroom,” Stiles argued, not entirely sure why he wasn’t arguing the suggestion of tipping cold water over himself.

“Fine,” said Lydia, shooting him a neutral expression before smiling. “Room temperature water.”

 

* * *

 

“So,” said Lydia after sipping her coffee, glancing up at Stiles from across the table. “Are you feeling prepared for your orientation tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” he answered after he’d finished chewing, wiping flakes of pastry from around his mouth. “I think now that I’m here and I’m settled into my dorm I’m really feeling the excitement.”

“Good,” she beamed at him, taking another sip of coffee before eating some of her croissant.

 Lydia glanced at her phone resting on the small table they were sat at in the coffee shop, quickly clicking unlock and checking the time. It was just after ten. They’d only left the dorm ten minutes ago, having hung back while Steven went for breakfast to have the room to themselves, and were planning on spending most of the day exploring the city.

“So what do you want to do today?” asked Lydia after a period of comfortable silence, watching Stiles startle as he looked up from his plate once he realised she was talking. He grumbled slightly, blinking at her. She realised that he’d zoned out, laughing quietly before continuing now that she had his full attention. “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, lifting his mug. “There are just so many things we could go see.” He took a sip of his drink and recoiled, obviously having burned his tongue. Lydia shook her head.

“Well we can’t see all of the tourist attractions in one day,” she said, tilting her head to the side as she tore a flaky strip of pastry off her croissant. “Or what else will we do when I visit?”

“I think I have a good idea,” Stiles replied with a playful smile. Lydia rolled her eyes.

“That’s not the only thing we’re going to do when I visit,” she responded, smiling before placing strip of pastry in her mouth.

“Depends on how long ago your last visit was,” he continued, grinning at her. She was unable to stop herself from smiling back as she shook her head at him.

“You’re incorrigible,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee as he laughed. “But seriously, where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” he said, shrugging. “Just the surrounding area, I guess.” He took another, tentative sip of his drink, trying not to burn himself this time. “Some of the parks. Some of the monuments, maybe.”

“And we’re also finding a MAC store,” added Lydia firmly. Stiles rolled his eyes at her. She raised her eyebrows in response. “Don’t look at me like that, I am replacing my lipstick.” He shook his head.

“Who’s the incorrigible one, again?” he said, shooting her a look that made her purse her lips in frustration.

 

* * *

 

A subtle breeze had started to emerge as the morning moved into afternoon, making the leaves sway in the sun as Stiles and Lydia sat down on a bench in Lafayette Square. They’d spend most of the day moving and were glad to sit down, dropping their bags on the ground beside their feet.

“I should have brought the video camera with us,” said Stiles as he looked up at the statue opposite them. Lydia turned to face him, tucking a strand of hair that the wind blew into her eye behind her ear.

“I thought you were just using that to document the ride up here,” she responded, licking her freshly painted lips as she took in the vibrant green of the park surrounding them.

“Yeah, but today’s been nice,” he replied, warmth lacing his voice. They hadn’t gone far over the course of the day. They’d mostly stuck to the parks surrounding the White House and Washington monument. Lydia had replaced her lipstick and then insisted that they went in a few more stores, and Stiles picked up some extra stuff for his dorm room while they were shopping. It had been a perfect way to spend the morning of their last full day together.

“Well you only live blocks away now,” Lydia reminded him, glancing in the vague direction of his dorm. “You can come back and record here any time you want.” Stiles gave her a thin smile.

“It won’t be the same without you here,” he told her. She placed her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

“I’ll be back soon enough,” she said, gently squeezing his hand. He smiled at her, before quickly widening his eyes, like he’d suddenly remembered something.

“Although I’m gonna come visit you in Boston before you come back here,” he stated, his tone shifting from warm and reflective to enthusiastic. Lydia leaned closer to him attentively. “I think I’ll be able to make it on your second week there.”

“So we only have to go two weeks without seeing each other,” she replied, smiling widely so the dimples in her cheeks were showing. Warmth spread in her chest. Two weeks was sooner than she was expecting.

“I know it doesn’t sound like long,” said Stiles, his tone moving back to quiet and reflective. Lydia blinked at him as he squeezed her hand. “But I’ll be counting down the days.”

 She smiled before leaning and resting her head on his shoulder, sighing as she nestled against him. “Me too.”

 

* * *

 

The sound of the door opening and Steven walking in the dorm room broke through the comfortable silence that had settled between Stiles and Lydia as they sat in a T shape across the bed, Stiles on his laptop and Lydia on her phone.

“What’s up guys?” Steven said as he shucked off his jacket and shoved it in the closet, not turning to look at them.

“You’ve been gone a long while,” Stiles remarked as Steven moved to sit down on his bed. They knew he was coming back as he’d texted fifteen minutes ago, but he’d left the room before they had and it was now four pm. They’d got back from their walk at two.

“I’ve been out with the dude from last night,” Steven explained as he stretched out. “We’ve been exploring the city. His roommate was acting as tour guide.”

“We’ve been out exploring the city too,” Stiles told him, closing the internet tab on his laptop. Steven nodded.

“You guys have fun?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Stiles replied.

“Good,” Steven said, running a hand through his hair before standing up, patting his front pocket to check for his wallet. “I was thinking about buying some groceries. Wanna come?”

“Sure,” Stiles agreed, looking up from his laptop before closing the screen.

“My hair is still wet,” Lydia said from where she sat with her back to the wall, causing both of them to turn and look at her. She and Stiles had taken a shower about twenty five minutes ago, and she was sat in Stiles’ blue flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, her hair up in a damp bun.

“I can’t exactly leave her in here by herself,” Stiles told Steven as his attention flickered from Lydia to him and back again.

“I’ll wait,” said Steven. Lydia smiled at him.

“Thanks Steven,” she replied, tapping Stiles to move his legs so she could get up without having to climb over them. Once she was up she went to her bag and dug out her hair dryer. “I won’t be long.”

“And by that she means she’ll be half an hour,” Stiles said half jokingly, grinning at Lydia as she glared at him. “What?” he exclaimed loudly. “That’s how long you usually took to get ready when we were on the road.”

“Well this is just a grocery run,” she replied, walking across the room to the socket by the desk to plug the hair dryer in. “I’m not putting full effort in.”

“I’ve really got no problem waiting,” Steven stated.

“Good,” responded Lydia, releasing her hair from its bun so the damp waves cascaded over her shoulders. “Because someone needs to make sure he eats something other than junk.”

“Hey,” Stiles blurted as she pointed the hair dryer at him.

“Well you certainly won’t,” Lydia replied, an almost stern tone to her voice. Stiles screwed up his face as he tried to think of a way of not admitting she was right. He had nothing.

“Eh, I can’t even argue with that,” he said, watching Steven shake his head before the sound of the hair dryer blasted through the room.

 

* * *

 

Stiles, Steven and Lydia sat against the wall on Steven’s bed as Stiles showed him a video that he’d recently sent into the pack group chat. He was surprised by how quickly he’d started to like Steven, usually it took him much longer to be as relaxed as he was with a new person. Maybe it was because Steven was just a really relaxed guy and it was rubbing off on him. Maybe it was because as far as he knew, he was just a regular guy with no supernatural secrets up his sleeve, which was a refreshing thing to encounter after everything that had happened. Either way he was glad he liked his roommate as much as he did. Their video watching was cut short when Stiles got a call. He shifted off the bed as he picked it up.

“Hey, dad,” he said slowly, smiling as he sat down on his own bed. “What’s up?”

“Just checking in,” his dad replied, the familiar sound of his voice spreading warmth through his chest. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” he answered, nodding as he glanced over at Steven and Lydia on the other side of the room. “It’s good here. I’m settled, my roommate’s a nice guy.” Lydia flashed him a smile, fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt that she was still wearing. “Me and Lydia went exploring the city today, which was pretty nice.”

“That’s great,” his dad responded.

“How are you?” he asked immediately afterwards, wanting to make sure his dad was okay.

“I’m good,” he answered. “Enjoying the peace and quiet around here.” His dad chuckled at his joke before turning more serious. “Nah, I miss you being around the house, but I’m fine.”

“I miss you too dad,” he said, his voice softening as a small ache jabbed at his heart. Stiles felt strange picturing his dad all alone in that house, thinking about not seeing him every day.

“So, your orientation is tomorrow, right?” asked his dad, bringing him away from those thoughts.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Yeah, it is.”

“You excited?”

“Yeah, I am,” he answered, smiling as he thought about tomorrow. Well, the exciting aspect of tomorrow, not the part that meant saying goodbye to Lydia.

“Good,” said his dad. “You’ll have to call me tomorrow night to tell me how it went.”

“I will,” he agreed. A small pause filled the conversation.

“Well I have to go,” his dad stated after the silent moment had passed. “Things look like they’re about to get real busy here.”

“Sure,” he responded, nodding his head despite the fact his dad couldn’t actually see him. “No problem.”

“Say hi to Lydia for me,” his dad added.

“I will,” he agreed, smiling over at her.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Bye dad.”

“Bye, son,” he dad replied, and then the line cut out.

Stiles stared down at his phone as it rested on his legs, feeling the familiar ache of ending a conversation with someone he loved.

“How’s your dad?” asked Lydia, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Good,” he answered her, standing up and moving back to their side of the room, sitting back down between them. “He says hi by the way.”

“Tell him I said hi back when you next call him,” she said, settling against his side as he got comfortable.

“Will do,” he replied, before loading up their video again, picking up where they left off.

 

* * *

 

“Here he is,” said Steven loudly as Stiles and Lydia walked into the lounge area at the end of the hall. “My reclusive roommate.”

“I am not reclusive,” argued Stiles as they made their way over, stopping in front of a couch that Steven and two others were sat on. “Alright, I’m just being a good host.”

“You know I wouldn’t have minded if we’d gone out and met people,” Lydia said from beside him.

“I know,” he replied, leaning towards her. “But you’re only here for the weekend. I was gonna meet these guys anyway.”

“Sit down,” instructed Steven, pointing to the empty couch next to theirs, creating an L shape. They did.

“So these are guys I was telling you about,” Steven began, pointing to the two people he was sat with. “This is Kevin,” he pointed to the dark skinned guy sat next to him. In a way he reminded Stiles of Boyd. “He’s up on the third floor.” Steven then pointed to the blonde haired girl sat next to him. “And this is Ashley, she’s on the second floor.”

“Hey,” said Stiles, flashing both of them a smile.

“Hey,” said Ashley in response. Kevin waved.

“Guys,” Steven continued, turning towards the others. “This is my roommate Stiles and his girlfriend Lydia.” Lydia gave them a small wave. “She’s here until tomorrow morning,”

“Yeah,” Stiles added, looking at Lydia sat next to him and resting his hand on her thigh. “She helped me move in.”

“Ah, nice,” said Ashley, turning her attention from Stiles to Lydia. “So are you going to college too?”

“Yeah,” she answered, nodding as she tucked some hair behind her ear. “I’m at MIT.”

“Cool,” replied Ashley, giving Lydia an approving nod.

“She’s starting as a junior,” Stiles blurted enthusiastically, causing Lydia to turn and shoot him a look. He shrugged at her. “What? I’m proud of you.” Lydia glanced down at her lap, smiling so wide that her cheeks hurt as the conversation continued around her.

 

* * *

 

It was after midnight when Stiles and Lydia decided to head back to the dorm room. They had spent an enjoyable evening talking to everyone, but Stiles had noticed Lydia go quiet about twenty minutes ago and wanted to make sure that she was okay, considering she was leaving tomorrow morning. He told Steven that they were going to head back to the room, and asked if he could hang in the lounge for a while so they had chance to talk. He agreed.

“Hey,” said Stiles softly once they were inside the room, his eyes immediately finding Lydia. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just,” she said quietly, biting her lip as she sat down on the bed. The ache in her chest spread as she looked at him. He had known immediately. She’d got lost in watching him talk to Kevin and Ashley, her heart reminding her that from tomorrow morning onwards he wouldn’t be there every day. He sat down next to her on the bed, love and concern shining in his eyes. “I can’t believe this is going to be the last night we spend together for two weeks,” she explained, glancing down at her lap. “And then who knows how long after that.”

“Yeah, me neither,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her body against his. “But aren’t you always telling me that it’s going to be fine.”

“I know it is,” she sighed, leaning into him. “But it’s made me realise just how much time we’ve spent together since you’ve been back, and I don’t want it to end.” He squeezed her gently, tilting her upright so they were looking directly at each other, his arm still wrapped around her.

 “Trust me, I really don’t want to say goodbye to you tomorrow either,” he told her, meeting her wide eyed gaze. “But we’re still going to talk every day.”

“I know,” she breathed, swallowing hard. “I’m just going to miss you.” The look in her eyes broke a piece of his heart.

“Yeah, me too,” he murmured, letting out a shaky breath as he pulled her back against him. He kissed her hair, suggesting that they get changed and lie down. They did, neither of them speaking until they were laying under the sheets, her head resting on his chest.

“So, it’s your last night here,” Stiles began, tilting his head as much as he could towards Lydia. “How do you want to spend it?”

“Just like this,” she sighed, closing her eyes. It was all she wanted, to spend as much time as she could being held by him.

“Sure,” he whispered, kissing her forehead before closing his eyes, concentrating on nothing but the weight of her body against his.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

The strength of the sun beaming down did little to distract from the chill that ran in the breeze, the bright green leaves from the small trees lining the sidewalk rippling along its current. The air was filled with noise, cars crawling along the street in rush hour traffic, the hurried steps of on foot commuters pounding the pavement, the clichéd chaos of Monday morning in a busy city. It was clearly going to be a very warm day once the chilly morning wind had disappeared, and the amount of people already out wandering the streets was only going to increase. Lydia studied the thriving hum of the cars and people surrounding her as she pressed the hem of her skirt against her legs, the burgundy fabric fluttering in the morning breeze.

Her chest was already laced with heaviness as she glanced up at Stiles who stood beside her, both of them hovering in front of her car. There was something uncomfortably quiet about the atmosphere between them, starkly juxtaposed against the vibrant noises of the city. It had been all morning. From the moment they woke up there were barely any words spoken between the two of them, just a constant and silent acknowledgement of what was to come. She knew that this was the moment both of them had been dreading for days, and she could already feel her throat start to catch as she thought about where she would be tonight.

“I should probably put my stuff in the car,” she said, trying to avoid making the hitch in her voice too obvious. Stiles nodded, shuffling on the spot.

“Yeah,” he agreed, trying not to let the ache in his heart leak into his voice too much. He tapped his foot against the pavement as he watched her unlock her car, throwing her gym bag full of clothes onto the passenger’s seat. He knew that there was no way of avoiding this moment, as there wasn’t with any of the people he loved who he had to leave, but the prolonged amount of time they got to spend together on the way here made the thought of it even more unbearable than it already was. It made the aching so much stronger.

Lydia gave Stiles as small smile as she walked back over to the front of the car, pressing her skirt down again as she stood directly in front of him. She wasn’t even sure what to say. She knew that they still had some time before he had to leave for his freshman orientation and she didn’t want to waste that time with him, but she couldn’t think of a single casual conversation to have when everything inside of her wanted to scream over how much she was going to miss him.

“What time is it?” She settled for, needing something to break the choking tension between them. Stiles startled before reaching into his pocket for his phone, probably as lost in thought about this morning and everything that would follow it as she was. He glanced down at the illuminated screen.

“Eight thirty five,” he told her, quickly shoving his phone back in his pocket. It felt later than it was. He’d been awake early, the dread and nerves about the upcoming day sinking into his body and creating chaos. He was used to lost sleep over racing thoughts, but he didn’t think he would ever get used to the feeling of saying goodbye to someone he loved, especially so soon after they’d finally found each other again. He’d been up before anyone else, watching Steven rise for his run as his alarm shook him awake, feeling Lydia stir against him shortly after. In the hour that they had the room to themselves he’d started preparing himself to say goodbye to her, committing the feeling of her skin to memory in order to survive the next few weeks without her.

“Ok,” Lydia said quietly, taking in the withdrawn look in his eyes. “Your orientation starts at nine, right?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. She wanted to walk over and touch him, to reassure him that despite how awful everything felt right now, those two weeks would pass faster than they could possibly imagine. But how could she tell him that when her own heart wouldn’t stop piercing her to let the logic of the situation sink in. She knew that everything would be fine, that they would call each other tonight and it would be as if there wasn’t over four hundred miles between them at all, but after spending three months without him, some of that time not even knowing who he was and the rest of it wondering if she was ever going to get him back, she didn’t feel ready to let him go just yet.

They had twenty five minutes until he needed to be at his orientation, deducting time that it would take him to walk there. They both knew they were running out of time and had to get to goodbye.

“Steven said he was gonna walk in with me,” Stiles started, feeling nervous energy and a deep, unpleasant ache rip through him as he looked Lydia in the eyes. He could see everything through them, how they were wide with love and tinged with sorrow, how she was taking in every inch of him, studying every detail of his face. He felt the urge to twitch his fingers where they were crammed in his pockets. “Since he actually knows where we’re going and I have no idea.”

He was starting to ramble. Lydia could feel herself wanting to smile, charmed by his awkwardness. She laughed along with him when he finished his comment with a nervous chuckle, shaking her head at the utter predictability.

“Let’s just hope you learn your way around pretty quickly then,” she replied, feeling a small burst of warmth break through the solid wall of heaviness that had been sat on her chest since she woke.

“Knowing my luck I’ll probably still be getting lost in March,” Stiles joked, feeling the tension in his body ease a little as she laughed. He wanted to record the sound of her laugh and listen to it every night she wasn’t there, have it permanently etched into his memory.

“I’ll just have to make sure Steven keeps an eye on you then,” said Lydia in response, watching his eyes soften as they fell on her. She liked to pay attention to the way he looked at her. She often found that it filled her with comfort, or a sense of security. She could see that it pained him as much as it pained her to have to say goodbye so soon, and they were both trying to hide behind nervous laughter and half smiles. She watched Stiles glance down at the floor. They both knew time was ticking.

“Where is he meeting you?” asked Lydia, feeling a sudden desperation to steer their conversation away from the inevitable for as long as she could.

“He said he’d wait for me in the dorm lobby,” Stiles explained, looking over his shoulder at the entrance to the building behind them. “From there we’re going to walk to the building where orientation is starting.” He swallowed after he finished, knowing that it would have to be soon.

“So,” said Lydia, almost unable to look at him as her voice started to waver. She knew that this had to happen now, that there was nothing more to say and they were both running out of time.

“Let’s walk over to the car,” Stiles blurted, knowing where she was going. His heart started to race as he followed her to the side of the car, both of them standing between her driver’s side door and the stranger’s car that was parked next to hers. His whole body started to hurt as he looked at her standing there, noticing the water brimming in her eyes that she was trying so hard to fight.

“I’ll text you when I arrive in Boston,” said Lydia, trying to break the tension that was now so tangible between them that it was making it hard for her to breathe. She could feel a lump forming in her throat. “You’ll probably still be busy with orientation by the time I get there.”

“And then I’ll call you tonight once I’m done,” added Stiles. His mouth was going dry, and his chest felt like someone had impaled him as he thought of the hole she was about to leave in his life. After everything they’d been through together, after all the time they’d spent apart or dancing around their feelings, it felt like too soon to be separating after coming together. He knew that their future together was looking good, but the pain of having to leave her, the ache for her that was so strong in him that it felt like its own physical force, drowned all of it out.

Lydia smiled at him, letting him know that their plan was solidified. It did nothing to console the crushing weight that sat inside her, or take away the hitch in her throat that threatened to evolve into sobs. Their eyes met, matching reflections of love and longing and soft but powerful sadness staring them in the face. Lydia bit her lip, swallowing hard against the rushing current of emotion that was hurtling through her, before closing the distance between them and walking into his arms.

Stiles immediately pulled her against him, wrapping one arm around her back and cradling the back of her head with the other. He closed his eyes as she locked her arms around his back, focusing all of his attention on the weight of her body in his arms, the scent of her filling his nostrils.

“I love you so much,” he told her, holding her as tightly as he possibly could without crushing her.

Lydia sighed heavily into his shoulder, her chest feeling like it was about to burst. His words made something explode inside of her, warmth and longing and desperation all twisted together. She swallowed harder against the lump in her throat as she clung to him, memorising the feeling of his arms around her, the solid comfort of his body as she leaned into him. She wished that this wasn’t the last time they were going to be this close for weeks.

“I love you too,” she said breathily, closing her eyes as he ran his hand down her back, sighing against her before kissing her hair. They held onto each other for a few more seconds, desperately clinging to the moment, before they slowly and reluctantly let go.

Lydia leant back against the driver’s side door, feeling grateful for the rush of air that sped into her lungs. She looked up at Stiles, holding his gaze for the two seconds it took him to pull her towards him again, this time leaning down to kiss her.

She immediately threw everything she had into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as his lips met hers with equal desperation. His arms fell around her waist, and they swayed with the momentum of their movement until she ended up with her back against the car door, using the solid support to pull him closer.

He poured all that he had into crashing his lips against hers, kissing her like it was the last time. He didn’t want the moment to end, burning the feeling of her waist in his hands and her tongue in his mouth into his memory. Even when they eventually slowed down, he still cherished every second, focusing on the texture and curve of each of her lips as they pressed into his, the subtle taste of her lipstick.

They both exhaled heavily as they separated again, a shared look of how much they were going to miss the other passing between them. The words didn’t need to be said, it was written in every look, every word, every action. Stiles took one last look at her, taking in every detail of her face before backing out of the narrow space between the two cars.

“I’ll call you tonight,” he reminded her, unable to not smile at her even as he backed away. Lydia returned his smile, the force of it hurting her cheeks.

“I know,” she replied, starting to fish in her purse for her keys despite not taking her eyes off him. “Now go, or you’re going to be late.”

“I’ll see you in two weeks,” he said as he slowly started to back down the street towards the entrance to the dorm.

“Can’t wait,” Lydia called back as she watched him walk away, the crushing sensation flooding back into her chest with a force that almost winded her. She closed her eyes against it, forcing the tears that threatened to leak from her eyes back as she opened the driver’s side door and climbed in, buckling up and preparing to face the DC traffic.

Stiles watched Lydia drive away, wondering how he was still standing as a rippling ache coursed through him. He wouldn’t see her in person again for another two weeks, and even though he would see her face and hear her voice every day, the softness of her touch was already starting to feel like a ghost. He took a deep breath, swallowing against the knot in his throat before making his way inside to find Steven, who clapped him once on the back before they made their way out.

They’d shared a wonderful trip together, enjoying the constant closeness and freedom to express their love for each other, but it had now come to an end as the next chapter of their lives began.

 

 

 


End file.
